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Click here to return to the main page. February 2012 ~We celebrated Nathan's first birthday on Saturday, February 4. We decided to go with a dinosaur theme for his first birthday. Publix made a cake to match the invitations that Daddy designed, and we even got a special baby cake just for Nathan. Mrs. Terrie had a special t-shirt made for Nathan that matched the theme. After the party-goers arrived, we ate a delicious lunch of beef brisket, homemade barbecue sauce, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, chips, and fruit salad. We even had dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets for the kids and blue, orange, and green jello dinosaurs. After lunch, Nathan opened his presents. He did a good job of pulling tissue paper out of bags and getting the gifts out. Then it was time for the best part - the cake! We sang Happy Birthday to Nathan, and then he got to sit in his high chair and enjoy his own cake. And boy, did he enjoy it! I don't think I've ever seen a one-year-old enjoy a cake quite to much! He devoured the cake, made an absolute mess, and loved every minute of it! I'm surprised he didn't have a stomachache from all of the cake he ate. It was an awesome time of fun and celebration for our one-year-old boy! ~Kate experienced a first this month...ice skating. She was invited to two birthday parties (both ice skating parties) in the same weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. On Saturday, she used the glider to help her skate for the first little bit, and then she got brave and began to skate with her friends and classmates. By the time the three-hour party was over on Saturday, she had fallen in love with ice skating. She couldn't wait to go back to the party on Sunday! At each party, she got a free pass to come back and ice skate again, and now she keeps begging us to all go ice skating. She had a great time and really loved ice skating...and she even became pretty good too! :) ~That same weekend, Gramma and Grampa came down to visit and help us get ready to put our house on the market (we're looking for a place with more space). They all went to Play Place Saturday morning until it was time for lunch. After lunch, Kate went to her party and Anna and Nathan went back to play some more. They had a great time and even Nathan had a blast crawling around and playing with everything there. Throughout the rest of the weekend, we all cleaned and repaired things around the house, which is pretty much how the rest of February went. It's been a super busy month getting our house ready and preparing for our family cruise vacation, but that will make it so much nicer to relax in the Caribbean! January 2012 Happy 4th Birthday, Anna!!! Happy 1st Birthday, Nathan!!! ~Kate lost her third tooth on Sunday, January 8. This time it was her top left tooth. It had been very, very loose, and it was hanging on by a thread. Of course, it was helped along a lot when Daddy hit her in the face with a basketball (she thought this was a good way to make it loose). :) We told her she had to pull it out before she went to school that week. After a few minutes of barely wiggling it, she got up the nerve to gently tug on it, and it came right out. She looks like such a big girl without her top tooth! ~We had Anna's fourth birthday party at The Play Place on Saturday, January 21 from 1 PM - 3 PM. Anna had an Ariel (from The Little Mermaid) themed party, so we invited lots of girls. We invited all of the girls from her preschool class as well as a few other friends. In all, we had twelve kids at the party. Gramma, Grampa, Papa, Uncle Tim, and GiGi arrived at our house just before lunchtime that day, so we went to Chick-fil-a for a pre-party lunch. We all went over to The Play Place after that. The kids were able to jump and play on the inflatables for the first hour and fifteen minutes. Boy, were they ready for a break! At 2:15, everyone came in the party room to sing Happy Birthday to Anna. Kate helped Anna blow out the candles on her Ariel cake. We had cake, pretzel sticks, goldfish, blue jello fish (a big hit!), and Capri Suns. Finally, it was time for Anna to open her gifts. She climbed up in the giant chair, where she had some help opening her gifts from a few of her freinds. It was a lot of fun! At the end of the party, we gave each of the kids a homemade chocolate Ariel lollipop. We were all exhausted when it was time to go home, but the party was awesome! ~Anna turned four years old on Monday, January 23. The day was a lot of fun! She had school that day, but Mommy was able to come to her school after lunch and bring a special birthday snack. Mommy made mini-heart-shaped brownies with chocolate frosting the day before. Anna helped by putting four mini M&M's on each one, since she turned four years old. We brought Ariel plates and napkins to school. Anna helped by passing out a napkin to each of the kids in her class. The boys were not thrilled that they were getting pink mermaid napkins, but Anna made sure to remind them that it was HER birthday. She even turned the napkin over for one boy to show him the crab on the back. Too cute! Anna wore her special birthday crown, and everybody sang Happy Birthday to her. The brownies were a definite hit and the perfect size for preschoolers! Mommy was able to take several pictures in Anna's classroom before it was time for them to go to Spanish class. Later that afternoon, Anna chose to go to Mei Wei for her birthday dinner. She enjoys getting the lo mein noodles from there (no chicken or veggies). After dinner, we came home to sing Happy Birthday to Anna and open presents. Kate got Anna a pack of headbands that match some that Kate already has, and Anna was so excited. Mommy and Daddy got Anna monogrammed pillowcases for her bed and a twilight ladybug (that projects stars on her ceiling at the touch of a button). Anna was really excited about all of her gifts, and then it was time for dessert. Mommy made a cookie cake just for Anna, and we all sang Happy Birthday to her. It was a great evening, and a great time to celebrate our special four-year-old daughter!! ~On the following Saturday, we decided to take a day trip to Chattanooga to visit the Tennessee Aquarium. Daddy had been busy at work the week before and we needed some family time together. So we decided on Friday afternoon that a trip to the aquarium would be fun. We left the house around 7:30 AM and drove to Chattanooga. We spent several hours at the aquarium, and we were even able to have lunch at Sticky Fingers in downtown too. A highlight for Kate was the butterfly garden. There were several huge butterflies, and one of them flew on her shirt and would not fly off. She loved walking around with this butterfly on her shirt! It was even cool when another butterfly landed on her at the same time. One of the girls' favorite animals to see were the otters. They were very playful this afternoon, and I think we could have stayed there all day watching them. Nathan was excited to see the fish darting back and forth in the big tanks. It was a wonderfully fun day and just what we needed to relax and spend some quality time together! ~Kate's big news this month is that she is now a bus rider in the afternoons. She tried riding the bus once earlier in the month and loved it. Mommy decided to let her ride the bus home every afternoon to give Nathan a better opportunity to take an afternoon nap in his crib instead of his carseat. Kate loves being a bus rider, and she even gets home before she would if she were a car rider. She typically sits on the bus with two of her favorite classmates, Claire and Kieran. Mommy does still drive her to school in the mornings (the bus comes by way too early!). ~Nathan turned ONE YEAR OLD on Tuesday, January 31. He woke up to us singing Happy Birthday to him, and we tried to sing it throughout the day. We made homemade pizza for dinner, and he devoured two pieces. After dinner, he opened his present from Mommy and Daddy - his first pair of shoes (size 4 1/2). He's beginning to stand on his own a little bit more and he'll be walking before we know it, so it's about time for shoes. Then it was time for dessert. Mommy made homemade vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting. We put one blue candle in Nathan's cupcake and sang Happy Birthday to him. He had a big smile on his face; he loves candles! Daddy, Kate, and Anna helped him blow out his candle. Then it was time to dig in! To say he loved his birthday cupcake would be an understatement! The pictures tell the story perfectly, I think! We will celebrate his birthday party with family and friends on Saturday, February 4, so he will get to enjoy more cake and ice cream then. ~As far as Nathan's development, he'll go to the doctor in early February, so we'll get weight/height measurements then. He currently has eight teeth in his mouth (four on top, four on bottom). He is crawling everywhere! His favorite places to go to get into trouble are the laundry room and the hall stairs. When anybody opens the laundry room door, he makes a beeline to try to get in there. One day he was in there eating the lint from the dryer filter that was in the trash can. Disgusting! He can climb up the hall stairs all by himself, although we are trying to discourage that still (no, we haven't put up baby gates, and we're trying not to). He's beginning to stand up on his own, but he's not walking on his own yet. He does, however, love to push his walker (or anything large enough to hold onto) around everywhere. He loves to eat just about anything, and just like his older sisters, he loves his orange juice in the morning. He is growing up so fast, and he continues to be such a blessing and joy in our lives!! December 2011 ~On December 3, we drove up to Nashville for a fun overnight trip. We saw the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes on Saturday morning. We met Mama, Papa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Stacie, GiGi, and GiJo there. Kate and Anna LOVED the show! They were both excited to see the dancers, and they did not disappoint! Nathan was thrilled when the show began. He was sitting in Mommy's lap and immediately started jumping up and down when the singing and dancing began. After a few songs, he became tired and fell asleep (and slept through the rest of the show). After the show, we all went to Cracker Barrel for lunch, and then we said goodbye to everybody else. We went to check in to our hotel and let the girls swim in the indoor pool for a bit. Then it was time to shower and dress to go see all of the beautiful lights at the Opryland Hotel. We saw lots of pretty lights, ate pizza and gelato, and even got to ride a boat through the Delta Atrium. It was a lot of fun, and we stayed out much past everyone's bedtime. After breakfast on Sunday, Kate wanted to do something "fun." Daddy's idea of "fun" was to go to Bass Pro Shop. The girls thought it was fun, especially when we walked in the store and they were able to ride a merry go round immediately. They played a few other fun games, and then it was time to go. After a filling lunch at Buca di Beppo, we made our way home. Fun times! ~Anna had her preschool Christmas program on Wednesday, December 7. Mommy and Daddy were excited to see Anna perform! Nathan was awesome that morning, and he slept from the time Mommy dropped Anna off at school at 9 AM (in the pouring rain) until after the show started at 11. After he woke up, he sat quietly in his carseat and ate Cheerios. Anna's 3-year-old class came out and sang three songs: 1) The Baby was a Boy, 2) Gotta Jump/Shh!, 3) Does the Baby Need a Blanket? Then they sat down and sang along with the younger classes. Anna did an awesome job on her performance! She sang all of the words, and she did all of the hand motions. We were so proud of our big girl! ~Saturday, December 10 was a fun day. That morning, we went to SciQuest for the kids' Christmas party for Daddy's work. We had donuts for breakfast, and then the girls got to see Santa Claus (Nathan was asleep), get a holiday gift, and play with the science exhibits. After lunch, we took the kids to see The Dance Company's Honors Ballet perform excerpts from The Nutcracker. Once of Kate's teachers was performing, and we all enjoyed seeing the big girls do ballet. That evening, Jason, Heather, Jack, and Carter came over for our annual Christmas dinner together. It was great to visit and catch up with them since it seems like our schedules are so busy now that our kids are getting older! ~Kate's class Christmas party at school was on Wednesday, December 14. Since Mommy is one of the Room Mom's for Kate's class, I got to help plan the party. I also had Duty Free Lunch (once a week, one parent is responsible for taking the whole class to recess and lunch, thus giving the teacher a one-hour break) that morning, so I got to school around 10:30. After lunch was over, we had about an hour before the party started, so I went in the classroom to help Miss Chandler. The kids were able to make a candy cane craft using beads and pipe cleaners. Then they watched a Magic School Bus movie as they anxiously waited for the party to start. Daddy even surprised Kate by coming to her party. During the party, the kids ate lots of yummy food provided by the parents, and they made a wreath/picture frame craft. Miss Chandler even brought reindeer food for the kids to take home to put out on Christmas Eve. It was a really fun party! Miss Chandler even gave me a bag of reindeer food to bring home to Anna, which she absolutely loved. ~Anna's last day of school was Friday, December 16. Kate had her last day of school on Tuesday, December 20. After Kate's last day of school, we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch to celebrate the beginning of Christmas break. During the first couple days of Christmas break, we were uncertain of the state of everyone's health. Anna had a slight cold, and Nathan woke up that Monday morning with cold symptoms and a fever. The fever broke after a couple days, but the cold symptoms got a little worse. Finally, on Friday, I took Nathan to the doctor. Turns out our sweet baby boy had his very first ear infection. I guess that explains why he was sleeping terribly and very cranky. Of course, it did make for a couple of difficult days getting ready for Christmas. But I'm just thankful the antibiotics did the trick and he's feeling better now! ~Gramma, Grampa, and Aunt Julie came down to celebrate Christmas with us on Friday, December 23. After Mommy got home from the doctor with Nathan, we all went to Nothing But Noodles for lunch. After lunch, we came home and opened gifts before it was time for everybody to head back home. The favorite gift from Gramma and Grampa was definitely the magna-tiles. Look them up - they're awesome! ~Mama, Papa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Stacie, GiGi, and GiJo arrived at our house on Christmas Eve morning. We all went to the 4:00 Christmas Eve service at our church. The service was beautiful, and it was a great way to set the tone for Christmas. After church, we came home and had our typical Christmas Eve dinner of heavy hors d'oevers. Kate and Anna were very excited about Santa Claus coming the next day, and they went to bed quite well. Before going to bed, though, they put out their reindeer food, cookies and milk for Santa, and they wrote Santa a note. And of course they had to say goodbye to Freddie, our Elf on the Shelf. Kate said she was sad to see Christmas come because that meant that Freddie had to go away until next year. The girls have really loved our mischievous elf this year! ~Kate and Anna both woke up around 7:15 on Christmas morning. Since we had a houseful of company, all three kids slept in our bedroom that night. After Nathan woke up, we told the girls they could come out and see if Santa left them anything. They were so surprised and excited to see all of the gifts under the tree! We divided up our gifts and brought them into the living room to start opening. Kate and Anna opened all of their gifts first. Kate asked Santa for a basketball, and he did not disappoint. Her big surprise gift from Santa was a real camera, which she has been wanting for quite some time. Kate also got lots of craft stuff, so that will keep her very busy in the weeks to come! Anna didn't ask Santa for anything, and she couldn't really think of anything she wanted. Santa surprised her with a special Pottery Barn Kids baby doll named Ashleigh. She got lots of clothes and accessories to go with her new big-girl doll. Nathan's first Christmas was good, although he still wasn't quite feeling 100% back to normal. He opened some of his gifts, but he needed lots of help from his big sisters. His big gift was a rocking chair with his name on it. He also got lots of little boy toys (cars, trains, balls, etc.). After the kids opened their gifts, it was time to take a break and eat breakfast. We had breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, and fresh fruit. The adults got to open their gifts after breakfast, which made for a rather long Christmas morning (as usual, and we wouldn't have it any other way!). ~We ate Christmas dinner around 5:00. In addition to all of our family, Ryan, Terrie, Lexi, and Blake joined us for Christmas dinner as well. We had lots of delicious food. Terrie brought a coconut shrimp appetizer. For dinner, we had beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, mixed veggies, corn, stuffed mushrooms, ambrosia, cranberry relish, and rolls. Yum! And you can't forget dessert. We had a festive jello ribbon, cherry cheesecake, chocolate pie, and a coconut cake for Jesus' birthday. We even took the time to put candles in the cake and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus to help us remember the true reason for celebrating. After dessert, it was time to play Rock Band. Lots of laughs and lots of fun!! ~Aunt Kellie and Uncle Justin arrived on Monday morning after Christmas. We all spent the day together and played with lots of new toys. That evening we went out to dinner at Olive Garden before it was time for everybody to head home. ~Since Daddy had the whole week off after Christmas, we decided to try to plan some fun things to do together. On Tuesday afternoon, we went to Cathedral Caverns. This is a large cave about 45 minutes from us. We did the 2:00 tour and saw lots of stalagtites and stalagmites. It was a 1.3 mile round trip walking tour, so there was a bit of complaining by two little girls at the beginning. But they were real troopers and walked most of the time and ended up having a lot of fun! I think a highlight was when the tour guide turned off the lights deep in the cave and it was pitch black in there. ~The next day we went to The Play Place near our house. Mommy was going to take the kids before Christmas, but I didn't want to expose them to any more germs since they already had mild colds. We purchased an all-day pass, and they played there for hours! We went home and ate lunch, and then Daddy took them back that afternoon for more playtime. It was a lot of fun! ~On Thursday, we took the kids to Birmingham to go to the McWane Center. We left the house around 8 AM. The girls were so excited when we told them we were going to this science museum; we had gone several months ago with Gramma and Grampa and they loved it! The McWane Center changes their entire fourth floor exhibit every few months, and this time they featured Winter Wonderland and Model Trains. Kate played in the "snow" in the Winter Wonderland area. Anna chose not to because the protective shoe covers were too big for her feet. Kate also loved going on the zip line, and Mommy even rode it this time too! Anna's favorite thing to do was to play in the newsroom on the computers they had set up there. She and Kate also both tried typing on a real typewriter. We ended up staying at the McWane Center until they closed at 5 PM. We stopped at Waffle House for dinner and finally made our way back home. ~New Year's Eve was exciting in our house this year. We had our typical fondue dinner, complete with cheese, main course, and chocolate. Ryan, Terrie, Lexi, and Blake came over to help us ring in the new year. Ryan even brought a homemade pinata, which we took outside after dinner. The kids all had a good whack at it and then Kate busted it open. They were thrilled to see all of the silly bands, glow bracelets, candy, etc. that Ryan had filled it with. We finally got to our dessert fondue around 10:00 (we were too stuffed to eat it earlier). It was obviously getting late and the kids were getting silly. Kate and Anna decided that it would be hilarious to paint their faces with the chocolate fondue. Anna's face was COVERED with chocolate. Kate took the more stylish approach and painted her eyebrows, nose, lips, etc. They had a lot of fun, and they were too cute to get in trouble this time too! :) We watched the ball drop at 11 PM, and then we said goodbye to our friends and put the girls to bed (Nathan went to bed at normal time and somehow managed to sleep despite all the noise). ~Nathan continues to grow at an amazing rate! He now has seven teeth in his mouth (four on the top, three on the bottom). He is quite fast at crawling. He can cruise around holding onto something. He loves to push his walker around the room. He's beginning to learn how to stand on his own, and he'll be walking everywhere before we know it! He is finally sleeping through the night on a consistent basis. He loves to eat anything and everything! I guess that's why he was up to 19 pounds, 4 ounces at his doctor's appointment a few days ago. He adores his big sisters and loves to play with them. 2011 has been a year of many blessings, and we look forward to all that 2012 has in store for our family! P.S.-In the picture above, Anna has a band-aid on her chin. This really is no cause for concern. She scraped her chin while playing outside one day. Now, when she looks in the mirror and sees her chin, it reminds her that it hurts, and she needs to put a band-aid on. She got a box of band-aids in her stocking for Christmas, and she only has about two left in the box now! November 2011 ~Kate and Anna had both had parents week for dance class at the beginning of November. Anna is in the Stage Arts I class this year, and Kate is taking Elementary I Ballet. During parents week, we are allowed to come in and watch the entire class, and they even learn a special dance to be performed that day. Anna was very shy during the first 15-20 minutes of class and didn't do anything. She did finally warm up and do some ballet and tumbling. She also danced her special dance very well. She may not be comfortable doing the warm ups in front of the parents, but she was very intent and did a great job on her special dance. We also got to see her do some tap towards the end of class. Kate was much more comfortable during her class, and she did a wonderful job on her dance. Her teachers have indicated that she is a very natural ballerina and would like to see her pursue more challenging opportunities in the future. ~Poor Anna spent several days out of this month sick with a fever. She had a three-day fever virus at the beginning of the month. After she recovered from that, she started running another high fever on Thursday, November 10. Unfortunately, she ended up running this fever for ten days. We took her to the doctor a couple times, and she even had to have bloodwork done. She was such a big girl while the nurse was drawing her blood. She sat in Mommy's lap and cried, but she did sit very still. The doctor initially thought Anna could have had mono, but we never got a positive diagnosis. Finally, Anna's fever broke the following Saturday, and she has been fine since. ~On Thursday, November 17, Mommy got to spend a fun day with Kate and her first grade class on their field trip. Mama, GiGi, and Uncle Tim came to stay with Anna and Nathan to allow Mommy to chaperone Kate's field trip. We got to school that morning, and the kids put on their lime green class t-shirts. Miss Chandler had a word search for the kids to do as we waited for the buses to arrive. We left Columbia Elementary around 8 AM to go to the Academy for Academics and Arts. There, we saw Honk! the musical. It was a children's play about the story of The Ugly Duckling. After the play, we took the buses back to Madison and went to Dublin Park's indoor recreation center, where we had lunch and some free playtime. I think Kate really enjoyed having Mommy ride the school bus with her, and Mommy certainly enjoyed the opportunity to chaperone this field trip. ~On Friday, November 18, Kate had another exciting day. She had her Boosterthon Fun Run at school. During the couple weeks prior, Kate made several phone calls and solicited pledges from family members. The day of the Fun Run was beautiful. Mommy, Anna, and Nathan came to cheer Kate on. Last year, Kate ran 32 laps, and her goal this year was to meet the lap cap at 35 laps. Well, Kate ran her heart out and ran about 40+ laps this year. She worked really hard to raise money for Columbia Elementary School, and we were very proud of her. ~Kate lost her second tooth this month. On Friday, November 18, she pulled it out of her mouth with dental floss. It was super loose, but she had been afraid of having Daddy pull it (even though she said it didn't hurt her last time). We gave her the floss that night and let her play around with it. Finally, we told her just to yank it, and the tooth popped right out. She was excited to get another dollar from the tooth fairy that night. ~We put our Christmas tree up on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Kate and Anna helped put the tree together and hang all of the ornaments. And of course we had our annual tradition of getting on Daddy's shoulders to put the angel on the tree. Daddy even lifted Nathan up so he could try to "help." Since Nathan is crawling everywhere now, we weren't sure if we would have to put the baby gate up around the tree or not. Yes, he has gone to the tree on several occasions and tried to grab the ornaments, but he's not driving us too crazy with it yet. :) ~Thanksgiving weekend was extra fun and busy this year. On Thursday morning, we drove up to Murfreesboro and spent the day at Gramma and Grampa's house with all of Daddy's family. We tried to give Nathan one of the turkey legs, but he was not interested in eating that. He much preferred the turkey cut up and put on his tray. We stayed in Murfreesboro through the weekend, and on Saturday we had Thanksgiving dinner at Mama and Papa's house with all of Mommy's family. We came home on Sunday after eating lots and lots of yummy food! ~Nathan added three more teeth to his little mouth this month. The first one, his top middle tooth on the left, caused a lot of problems for him. He was quite fussy leading up to it coming through the gums. Finally, I noticed it on Saturday, November 5! On Thanksgiving Day, I happened to feel in his mouth and noticed that his next bottom tooth on his left side had come through. Just two days later, he got his other top middle tooth (on the right side). He now has five teeth in his mouth, and he loves to use those little teeth to eat. Nathan still eats his baby food, but he definitely is beginning to prefer all table foods. He will happily eat his baby food until he sees "real" food on the table, and then he wants only that. He loves just about any table food that we offer to him! October 2011 ~On Saturday, October 1, we attended the annual Madison Street Festival in downtown Madison. We had a great time watching the parade, doing arts and crafts, petting the animals in the petting area, eating fair food, and enjoying the perfect weather! After attending the Street Festival, we drove up to Murfreesboro for a very fun evening. We had tickets to the Nashville Predators pre-season hockey game. This also happened to coincide with Uncle Tim's 30th birthday weekend, and he had several huge surprises. Uncle Tim was presented with a jersey by Gnash, the team mascot. After the second period, Uncle Tim had the opportunity to ride the zamboni around the rink! One final surprise was waiting...Uncle Tim, Papa, Daddy, and Kate were allowed to go sit on the special seats between the two players' benches. The four of them were featured on the JumboTron, and they all had a blast! The referee kept making faces at Kate, and he even gave her the game puck between periods! Kate had an absolutely amazing time and she is so proud of her puck! Oh yeah, Anna and Nathan had fun too, but it wasn't nearly the experience that Kate had! :) ~We went to Fort Walton Beach, FL from Thursday, October 6 through Monday, October 10; we stayed at the same condo as last year. At the last minute, our friends, the Rego's, decided to join us, and we all had a blast! The weather was perfect beach weather...mid 80's and sunshine the whole weekend. Unfortunately, the water did not cooperate, and we experienced red flag warnings and jellyfish the whole time we were there. Daddy and Mr. Ryan did a little bit of body surfing, but the waves and undertow were so strong that the girls didn't want to get in the water. The beach was perfect, though, and we spent lots of time playing in the sand. This was Nathan's first real beach trip, and he was great! He loved putting his feet in the sand, and he even let us bury him a little bit. He really didn't try to eat the sand...until the last day. Once he got a mouthful, he wasn't interested in trying that again, though! :) Nathan napped on the beach every morning in a large inflatable raft that got more use as a crib this year instead of as a boat. We spent several hours on the beach every morning, and then we returned up to the room for lunch. After lunch, we went back down to the pools and water features. Last year, the lazy river and other pools were quite frigid; they were better this year. We spent the afternoons playing in the water, and then we got ready to go to dinner. We definitely had favorite restaurants this year, as was evidenced by the fact that we went to Dewey Destin's four times (two times each at two different locations). Other favorites included The Donut Hole and Shake's Frozen Custard. One night, we went to Pompano Joe's for dinner, which was very good as well. The kids were even part of the entertainment that night, as the singer encouraged them to come on stage and help play an instrument. It was a great time! ~As part of our fall tradition, we went to Tate Farms during the month of October. We arrived just before they opened, and we had the place to ourselves. First stop: corn crib. The girls jumped right in and began to bury themselves and make corn angels. We sat Nathan down in the corn, and he immediately began to try to eat it. We also went down the huge slide and played on their new jumping pillow. Of course we did the hay maze and petting area also. Finally it was time to go on our hayride to pick out our pumpkin. We took lots of cute pictures in the pumpkin patch, and we picked out a large family pumpkin and let Kate and Anna pick out smaller ones as well. It was another fun day at Tate Farms! ~We also visited the Durling Farm this month. Our Sunday School class was invited to come out for lots of fun activities. After we did our nature walk (which was very difficult with a stroller), we were invited to pet the horses. Kate loved being able to pet and feed the horses, but Anna was quite terrified. She did not want to get too close! With Daddy's help, Nathan even pet a horse too. The kids were also able to help gather eggs, and Mrs. Julie helped Kate find an egg in the chicken coup. At the end of the day, both girls were able to bring an egg home with them, which they thought was pretty special. Next came horseback riding and a hayride. Anna did not want to ride the horse, but Kate rode twice. She loved it! Anna said her favorite part was the hayride. ~On Saturday, October 29, we went to a pumpkin carving party. The kids got to dress in their costumes, and we went over there for dinner. After dinner, it was time for the Daddies to carve our pumpkins. The kids had a special treat too...they were each given a smaller pumpkin to color on and decorate. Anna wrote her name and drew hearts on hers. Kate wrote "I love Halloween" and "BOO!" on hers. ~On Sunday, October 30, we went to a Halloween Kids Bash. Kate and Anna loved playing on the inflatable and enjoying the beautiful fall day. The festive Halloween treats were yummy too! ~Halloween brought about lots of treats! Kate decided to dress up this year as a black cat. Mommy looked online and figured out how to make an inexpensive costume, and Kate loved it! Anna chose to be Minnie Mouse this year, which worked out perfectly because she already had a dress-up outfit. Nathan was a little green dinosaur. We ordered pizza for a quick dinner, and then the kids got their costumes on and their faces made up. Then it was time for pictures and trick-or-treating. Nathan rode in the stroller the whole time. He was actually very tired, so he fell asleep shortly after we started. Anna followed Kate as they ran from house to house together. They both did a great job of saying "Trick or Treat" and "thank you." They got LOTS of candy! We were out for about an hour, and after we came home, they dumped out their candy and begin to decide what they liked and what they didn't like. It was such a fun night with cute kids and great costumes! ~Nathan has had some exciting developments this month. On October 11, he clapped his hands together for the first time. Now he loves to clap as we say "HOORAY!" One day later, on October 12, Nathan began to crawl. He is so happy now that he can crawl and get to where he wants to go. Of course, he's so much more trouble too. He is getting into everything! Finally, his habits have changed greatly. He now snacks on Puffs, Cheerios, and crackers. Also, when we're at the table, he wants to try what we're eating. He does great about chewing up foods that we break into small pieces. He'll be eating us out of house and home soon! September 2011 Here are a couple highlights from this month: ~On Labor Day weekend, we decided to put Daddy's canoe to good use and take a family trip to Wheeler Lake. They have a day-use beach and picnic area there, and Daddy was able to put the canoe in the water there too. Kate and Anna were so excited to go out on the boat, and the day was absolutely wonderful! We got to the beach mid-morning, and we let the kids play in the sand and the water. Nathan loved to put his feet in the sand, and Daddy took him to splash in the water too. Kate and Anna both got to ride in the canoe together. Anna was thrilled to help Daddy paddle the canoe. We brought our little portable grill and had a yummy lunch. Afterwards, the girls were able to try to fish a little. Nobody caught any fish, but it was a fun experience anyway! ~Kate lost her first tooth on Tuesday, September 26. The tooth had been loose for a couple months, and she's been asking us to try to pull it. Daddy actually let Kate try pulling it out herself with dental floss a few days prior. For some reason, though, they decided that it would be good to try again at the dinner table that night. Mommy was quite squeamish at the thought, and when Daddy suggested Kate get the dental floss, Mommy sent them both to the bathroom. About five minutes later, Daddy and Kate both came out with huge smiles on their faces...and Kate with bloody toilet paper hanging from her mouth. :) Our baby girl had lost her first tooth! Daddy had tied dental floss around it and pulled, and it popped right out. Kate was so excited to have FINALLY lost a tooth! She put her tooth in her tooth pillow and placed it on her nightstand right next to her bed. She even wrote a note to the tooth fairy that night. It read, "Can I keep my tooth because it's my first tooth. love: Kate To: the tooth fairy" She slept with her head under her pillow that night so she wouldn't see or hear the tooth fairy. But when she woke up the next morning, she was thrilled to see all that the tooth fairy left her. Of course she let her keep her first tooth! She also left her a special note, a one-dollar bill, and a new book (Junie B, First Grader: Toothless Wonder). Kate was so excited! She even talked us into letting her bring her tooth to school so that she could get a special tooth necklace from her teacher. ~Anna continues to love school! She is learning all sorts of new things. Whenever we're out driving and she sees an American Flag flying, she points it out to us very excitedly. She has also learned about traffic lights this month, and she's told us that if we go on a red light, she's going to tell her teacher. :) She's doing an awesome job of tracing lines and following directions, and she can write her name by herself. Well, sort of.... She gets all of the letters, just not necessarily in the correct order. It's usually A N A N O (the O is for her last name). I love how much she is learning and how excited she is to be learning new things every day! ~Nathan is so close to crawling. He rocks back and forth on his hands and knees, and he's able to scoot wherever he wants to go. He's also started to eat more solid foods. We have introduced him to Puffs, and he's finally able to eat little pieces of those without choking on them. Next month promises to be exciting with Nathan's first beach trip and lots of fall fun! August 2011 Ah, the joys of school days and being back in a routine. :) But before we get to the excitement of a new school year, Nathan had his six-month checkup on Friday, August 5. He's growing and developing nicely; he is right around the 50th percentile for both height and weight. At his checkup, we were also given the go-ahead to start feeding him fruits and vegetables. We were ready, and he had his first taste of baby food that night with squash. Nathan actually liked it! We didn't get any funny faces or looks of disgust like we did with the girls. We only gave him half the container, but we realized he probably would have eaten the whole thing. Every two or three days since then, we've introduced a new Stage I food (and we've started giving him the whole container). The first funny face came with applesauce, his first fruit. He managed to eat the applesauce, but it was a struggle. The only other food that he's had a problem with were peas...and we ended up giving up on those initially. Nathan now loves all his baby food; he's up to eating two containers of food per day in addition to his bowl of cereal every evening. School began for Kate on Monday, August 8. We actually had Open House for her the previous Thursday. We went to Columbia Elementary and were able to meet her first grade teacher, Miss Chandler, and see her classroom. First grade is exciting because the kids have real desks to sit at instead of tables. Kate has two boys in her class from last year, with a total of 19 students right now. On Monday morning, Kate requested a special first-day-of-school breakfast of green eggs and ham. Now this is funny, because Kate has refused to eat eggs since she was about two years old. However, Daddy got up early and made Kate green eggs with bits of ham inside. And believe it or not, Kate ate her whole breakfast! I guess she likes eggs now (as long as they are green, anyway)! After breakfast, we were able to have time to take some pictures before Mommy drove Kate to school and dropped her off in car line. Kate continues to love going to school every day! She has homework after school, and spelling/vocabulary tests on Fridays. Kate has said that her favorite thing to do in school is math. On Friday, August 12, Gramma and Grampa came down for the weekend. We decided to go to the McWane Science Center in Birmingham on Saturday. We left the house around 8:30 that morning, and we didn't get home until about 9:00 that night! We all had such a fun day at the McWane Center, though! After we got there, Kate rode a zip line through part of the museum and loved it. Anna's favorite thing to do was a human maze while Kate did the zip line. We saw lots of cool exhibits and learned a lot too! We saw birds, dinosaurs, learned how the weather is broadcast, played with bubbles, and lots of other really cool stuff. The girls' favorite part by far was the tornado machine. They took turns getting inside with one of us or just by themselves, and then the wind speeds picked up to nearly 80 miles per hour. Their squeals of delight said it all! :) On Sunday afternoon, Mommy and Daddy decided to take the kids to the Botanical Gardens. Daddy, Kate, and Anna wore their swimsuits, and they splashed around in several different water features that the garden is featuring this summer. We had such a fun weekend! Kate started her second week of school on Monday morning, and Mommy took Anna to Open House at her school. She is in the three-year-old MWF preschool class at Asbury Weekday. We met her teachers, Ms. Missy and Ms. Katie, and several of her classmates. Anna's first day of school was Wednesday, August 17. Daddy stayed home from work that morning so we could all take Anna to school. Mommy made Anna blueberry muffins for breakfast. After lots of picture taking, it was time for school. Anna was so excited to begin school this year; she walked right into her classroom and began playing with play-doh. Anna had such a fun day of school; she was excited to tell Mommy all about it when I picked her up. Anna has continued to love school, and she's disappointed on Tuesdays and Thursdays when she doesn't have school. The following Saturday, Kate attended Bible Adventure Day at our church. It was a three-hour program geared for first-graders. Kate learned lots of things about the Bible and how to study it better. She was even given her very own Bible from the church! While Kate was at Bible Adventure, Mama, Papa, and Uncle Tim arrived at our house. They decided to come down for the day to visit. We all went to Chick-fil-a for lunch, and we played "school" with Teacher Kate that afternoon. :) The following Saturday, Kate went to a friend's birthday party at a local cooking school. The kids made their own pizzas and cupcakes, and they all made a s'mores brownie dessert. Kate had a blast cooking her own food, and it tasted pretty good too! On the last day of the month, Nathan had his six-month pictures taken. He did a great job smiling for the camera; I can't wait to see how his professional pictures turned out! Nathan continues to grow and develop. He is now able to get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. He's not crawing yet, but he can scoot all over the room. Anna and Kate love to play with him and hold him, and he loves his big sisters! We have had a great month! It's nice to be back in a routine with school, and it's especially wonderful that Kate and Anna both continue to love school so much. July 2011 We began July celebrating a long holiday weekend. On Sunday, July 3, we were fortunate enough to drive up to Tennessee for a lunch with Mama, Papa, and Uncle Tim. This was special because we were able to see Aunt Stacie too, who was in town for the weekend. Kate and Anna loved to see their aunt and sit next to her at Buca di Beppo! We also saw Steve and Sue, Mama and Papa's friends who were visiting from Wichita, and they were able to meet Nathan for the first time. The consensus was that Nathan looks exactly like his Daddy (which is true). For July 4, we decided to go to Bridge Street to watch the fireworks this year. Since this is Huntsville's huge fireworks show, it is always extremely crowded. Last year, for example, all of the parking lots/garages at Bridge Street were completely full and closed off by 7:30 PM. So, we decided to get to Bridge Street early. We had 4:00 dinner reservations at Connor's (one of our favorite restaurants here) with the Rego's. After a yummy early dinner, we walked over to Orange Tree to get some frozen yogurt. We ran into the Gjesvold's there, and we ended up all sitting together to watch fireworks. We had a couple hours to visit and let the kids play before the fireworks show began at 9:00. Nathan had fallen asleep prior to the show beginning, but he woke up with the first boom. He sat in Mommy's lap and watched the whole show. Nobody covered their ears this year and everybody seemed to have a great time. Since the place was so crowded, we ended up hanging around and talking for another hour after the show finished, and we didn't get home until 11:00. It was a late night, but it was a lot of fun to spend so much time with friends! On Wednesday, July 6 through Friday, July 8, our church hosted Mission Week for the children at church. Kate participated in Mission Minded Kids, where they learned about lots of different missions that Asbury is involved in. On Wednesday, they participated in a prayer walk around the church, filled homeless bags and health kits, and made gifts for folks in a nursing home. On Thursday, Kate took a field trip to the nursing home to visit and drop off their gifts. Kate was even photographed as part of her group, and her picture was on the front page of the Madison Record (a local weekly newspaper). On Friday, the children learned about other countries and heard from various missionaries. Kate enjoyed her week very much! Anna and Mommy participated in Missions 'n Me, and we had a fun week too. On Wednesday, we decorated flower pots (to be taken to a nursing home), filled thank-you goody bags, and hand-delivered the goody-bags to the 60-member church staff. On Thursday, we heard from Farmer Mary Lynn, and then we went to the Asbury Farm to pick vegetables. Anna helped pick zucchini, squash, cucumbers, banana peppers, cherry tomatoes, and regular tomatoes. The church prepares a meal for the homeless on Thursday evenings with this food, and some of it is given to local families in need. After picking the vegetables, the children had to wash the vegetables. They also had to wash their Mommy's feet, just like Jesus washed the disciples' feet. On Friday, we took a field trip a local nursing home. The kids learned several songs to sing, but Anna was too shy all week to sing anything (even her favorite, "Jump Into the Light"). Sometimes she can be so much like Kate! After the children sang their songs for the residents, we played color/shape Bingo together. Anna was paired with a very sweet lady, and they even won a round of Bingo! Anna was able to present her with some candy and one of the flowerpots that the kids decorated on Wednesday. Both girls learned a little bit more about loving Jesus and serving others during these three days! On Saturday, July 9, we went to a local blueberry patch to pick berries. It was so hot that morning, so we didn't stay out too long, but we were able to get lots of yummy blueberries to put in the freezer. Kate and Anna both did an excellent job of picking berries this year...only blue ones made it into the bucket! Of course, there were lots of blue ones that made it into their mouths too, but that's half the fun, isn't it? We ended dance class the following Monday, and our summer really seemed to slow down after that. On Friday, July 15, we took a mini-vacation to Atlanta, GA with the Rego's. We were lucky enough to be in town at the same time as Aunt Kellie and Uncle Justin, so we were able to visit with them on Friday evening. They even stayed in our hotel with us that night. On Saturday morning, we said goodbye to Aunt Kellie and Uncle Justin after breakfast. Then we went to the Georgia Aquarium, where we spent several hours. The first thing Kate wanted to do when we got there was pet the sting rays, which she remembered from our previous visits. Some of the other highlights were watching the otters eat/do tricks and seeing the whale sharks. We were able to rest for about an hour at the hotel before we went back out for our nighttime adventure, an Atlanta Braves baseball game. We lucked out and had perfect weather for a mid-July ballgame. It actually rained just a few drops on us just before the game started, but the temperatures were nice and cool and not-too-humid. We were sitting pretty high up, but we were right behind third base, as we watched the Atlanta Braves play the Washington Nationals. This game was extra-special because the Braves were celebrating their 10,000th franchise win the previous night. Unfortunately, the Braves didn't win this game; the final score was 6 to 2. Kate did the signature tomahawk chop at the appropriate times, we all ate pizza for dinner and had frozen lemonade or dippin dots for dessert. We even got Cracker Jacks, but Kate didn't like them and Anna wouldn't try it because Kate told her it was gross. Nathan did great sitting and watching everything going on, eating, and even falling asleep for a bit. After the game, the B-52's put on a post-game concert right on the field. We stayed for a couple songs as we let the traffic die down, and it was just after midnight when we finally got back to our hotel. Since we were out so late on Saturday, we slept in on Sunday morning (Nathan woke up around 10 AM, Kate at 10:30, and we woke Anna up at 11). We let the kids swim at the hotel for a bit, and then we went to Stone Mountain for a fun evening. The first thing we did after we got there was ride the skytram up to the top of the mountain. We were able to walk around up there, see all the way to downtown Atlanta, and take lots of pictures. We also took a train ride around the mountain, and watched a 4D Yogi Bear movie. Then we picked up dinner and found a nice spot for our picnic and settled in to watch the nighttime laser show. Of course, we had to get dippin dots to enjoy before the show. It was yet another late night, but we had so much fun! We headed home on Monday afternoon after a trip to IKEA and lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Such a fun mini-vacation!! We had a few days at home after Atlanta, and then Kate and Anna went on their next adventure. It was time for another weekend in Murfreesboro; this time Anna spent the weekend with Mama and Papa and Kate went to Camp Gramma and Grampa. Anna had fun at the movie theater watching the new Winnie the Pooh movie, going to the pet store, picking tomatoes at GiJo's house, and having lots of playtime (especially with her buddy Uncle Tim). Kate had fun swimming, going to Chuck E Cheese, visiting the Nashville Zoo, and going to Cumberland Caverns. Mommy, Daddy, and Nathan enjoyed our quiet weekend at home. The last week of July was very calm compared to the previous seven weeks of summer. We played lots and lots at home, we did art projects, we pulled out "forgotten" toys to play with, etc. Nathan actually had the big news this week...he cut his first two teeth! Nathan was a bit fussy for a couple days (which was odd for our usually laid-back little boy), and I happened to check out his mouth on Tuesday, July 26. Well, believe it or not, he had cut his first tooth on the bottom. I could see the tooth right next to it getting ready to pop through, and it did so the very next day! Kate and Anna were much older (11 and 14 months, respectively) when they got their first tooth, so this came as a total shock to us! He had about two or three "fussy" days, and then he was back to his happy self. We also celebrated Daddy's birthday later this week. We went out to Connor's for dinner and came home to open gifts and eat Maggie Moo's ice cream cupcakes for dessert. Happy Birthday, Daddy! Saturday, July 30 was a fun day. That morning we decided to take the kids to see an IMAX movie at the Space and Rocket Center. We saw the Hubble movie, and the girls were able to get popcorn and an icee. They both thought the IMAX theater was pretty cool! Nathan was awake for most of the 45-minute movie, but he fell asleep toward the end. Kate had a very special treat later that afternoon. She has been such a huge help with Anna and Nathan this summer that we wanted to reward her in some special way. On Saturday afternoon, Mommy and Kate went all by ourselves to have pedicures. This was a first for Kate, and she was so excited! We got there, and she chose dark purple polish for her toes. Then she climbed up in the special kid's panda bear chair ready to be pampered! After having her feet and legs massaged, the lady painted Kate's toes purple, and then she added a special coat of glitter polish on top. Her toes looked fantastic, and Kate was so thrilled! It was a fun Mommy-daughter afternoon! It's hard to believe that Nathan is now six months old and that summer is rapidly coming to an end. We only have one week in August before Kate goes back to school. We have had an awesome summer, though, and we look forward to the new school year and all that it will bring! June 2011 Wow, what ever happened to the "lazy days of summer"? June has been an incredibly busy month, but we have had a ton of fun! The first weekend in June brought about Daddy's company picnic, which was held at the Huntsville Stars baseball game this year. We went to the ballpark for burgers and hot dogs, and then we got good seats (right behind third base) to watch the game. We weren't certain how long everybody was going to last, but we ended up staying for the whole game! Both girls got into the game more and more as it progressed; Anna was fascinated that the batters kept hitting the ball backwards (foul ball). It was very hot, but we all enjoyed some Dippin' Dots about halfway through the game. The girls stood up for the seventh inning stretch and sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." The Huntsville Stars beat the Tennessee Smokies, 7 - 2. In the car on the way home at 10:00 that night, Anna kept repeatedly asking when we could go to another ball game. I think she had fun! The next morning we celebrated Blake's second birthday with his family and friends at his house. That afternoon was a big deal for Anna, because Anna had her very first haircut! Anna was initially very unsure about this, but we talked it up to her and she finally decided it was okay. Mommy, Kate, and Anna all went to see Ms. Jane that afternoon. Kate, who couldn't wait another second to get her hair trimmed, went first, and she had several inches cut off. From the time Kate stepped up in the chair, Anna was ready and kept asking when it was her turn. Finally, Kate was finished, and Anna hopped up in the chair like such a big girl. She sat very still for Ms. Jane, and she had about 6 inches cut off! Her hair looks so much healthier, and it is much easier to maintain now! And she looks adorable (as does Kate)!! On Monday, June 6, Kate and Anna began six weeks of summer dance classes. Anna is in the Stage Arts I class this summer, and Kate is in the Elementary I Ballet class. Both girls have really enjoyed going to dance this summer; they will continue in these classes in September. Swim lessons began the next day for both girls also. They had 45-minute classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays for four weeks. Anna was in the preschool class, and Kate was in the beginner class. It's amazing how quickly the girls have progressed in their swim lessons this summer. At our first trip to the pool, Kate was trying to remember how to swim again and by the end of her lessons she was swimming the entire length of the pool unassisted. Anna has also had a blast with swimming lessons and is now able to move herself around the pool all by herself as long as she has her floaties and ring on. On Friday, June 10, Nathan had his four-month checkup with his pediatrician. Nathan is in the 60th percentile for weight, and just below the 50th for height. We were given permission to start Nathan on cereal, and that's exactly what we did on Sunday, June 12. Nathan's first bowl of rice cereal was mostly milk, but he did a pretty good job of eating it off the spoon. We are gradually making it thicker for him, and he now knows to open his mouth when the spoon comes near. In case starting cereal wasn't enough for my baby boy, he decided to roll over from his tummy to his back the very next day! He had been very close to rolling over but just couldn't get all the way over. On Monday morning, he was laying on the floor playing with his little light-up piano. He managed to push himself all the way over. Of course, I think he thought Mommy was completely wacko when I began cheering like crazy for him after he got over! :) On Wednesday, June 15, Kate and Anna had a fun day. That morning, they went to The Play Place here in Madison. It's a brand-new facility that has inflatables, a large-screen TV with bean bags, blocks and other small toys. This particular morning, one of our friends was offering a butterfly canvas painting class. Kate and Anna each painted their own butterfly on a canvas. Mrs. Colleen outlined Anna's for her, and Anna painted inside the lines. Kate, however, drew and painted her butterfly all by herself. Both girls did an awesome job, and Mrs. Colleen was very proud of how well they did. We purchased an all-day play pass, so the girls played for a few minutes afterward. We were then able to go run a few errands and come back to play for several hours after lunch. They had so much fun and have been begging to go back! We haven't been able to go back yet, though, because we've been so busy with the rest of our month. On Thursday, June 16, Lockheed Martin hosted their makeup day for Young Minds at Work. It was originally scheduled for April 28, but had to be cancelled because of the tornadoes that came through a day earlier. Gramma and Grampa were here to stay with Anna and Nathan so Daddy, Mommy, and Kate could all go to work. We arrived around 7:30 and had fruit and donuts for breakfast. Our first activity was to make a water bottle rocket. Kate decorated her own bottle, and then she had help launching her rocket into the air. She loved it! Afterwards we went to see some cool rockets and a video presentation, and then we went back to launch her rocket again. Later we shot a water balloon catapult, and then we went to see the U.S. Space and Rocket Center's StarLab. We learned about different stars and constellations, and then we went into the StarLab to see what the night sky looks like. Kate thought this was totally awesome and wanted to go back and do it again. So after lunch, we did just that after getting to see a real live rocket motor in action! It was such a fun morning, and we hope Kate learned a little bit more about science and had a good time in the process! The next day, Kate had one of her friend's from kindergarten, Olivia, come over to play. The girls had fun playing in Kate's room, eating lunch together, and playing Disney Princess and Just Dance Kids for Wii. They were begging to get together again very soon! That night, we went to Cascading Falls Miniature Golf. Kate collects box tops for school, and since she brought so many in, she won a free mini-golf certificate. The evening was beautiful, and we had a lot of fun playing miniature golf together. Kate and Anna's favorite hole was the one where you hit the ball in one hole, it rolled through a tunnel, and rolled out another hole. They laughed and laughed and kept putting the ball in the hole. We weren't sure we were ever going to get away from that hole. Fortunately, they weren't very crowded so we could stay there for quite awhile. After mini-golf, Kate suggested we go get a treat somewhere, so we went to Sonic to get ice cream and/or slushes. The next morning, we went to Maggie's fifth birthday party. She had a pool party, so it was lots of fun swim time for the girls and their friends! Sunday, June 19 was Father's Day. We gave Daddy his cards and presents before church. After church, we took him to Cantina Laredo for brunch. We all came home and rested that afternoon, and then we spent the evening at our neighborhood swimming pool. It was a restful and relaxing Father's Day spent together as a family! The next week was another busy one. It was the week of our church's Vacation Bible School. The theme this year was Big Jungle Adventure. Nathan did awesome in the nursery each and every day; they said he was their favorite baby! :) Anna was in the preschool class this year, and she loved doing crafts, singing the VBS songs in the Treehouse, watching a movie about the Bible story, etc. When I picked her up each day, she told me all about the Bible story they learned that day and the other fun things they did. Kate was in the Elementary VBS this year, which was a new experience for all of us. Since she moved up to Elementary, Mommy volunteered to be a Crew Guide for her class to see what it was like. We had so much fun! Mommy had eight first-graders (including Kate) in her crew. We started the morning singing songs and learning about our Bible story. After a mid-morning snack, we played games and had craft time before closing out our time for the day. We had an awesome week, and we all learned a little bit more about God's Love for us! Nathan had another first this week; he rolled over from his back to his tummy on Wednesday, June 22. Mommy didn't actually see him roll over the first time; he was laying on his playmat, and then Kate looked up and noticed that he was laying on his tummy. He has rolled over several more times since then. Soon he will be rolling all over the house! After VBS on Friday, we loaded the car and drove up to Murfreesboro. We dropped Anna off for the weekend at Camp Gramma and Grampa, and Kate spent the weekend by herself with Mama and Papa and Uncle Tim. Both girls had so much fun! Anna had fun feeding the fish, doing crafts, going to the Discovery Center, having a picnic lunch, and swimming in a blowup pool. Kate had fun catching fireflies, doing crafts, going to the Discover Center, going bowling, and going to Chuck E. Cheese (where she hit the jackpot and came home with 462 tickets' worth of "junk"). Kate and Anna both happened to be at the Discovery Center and the same time, so they enjoyed getting to see each other and play together. Anna was even sad when it was time for Kate to leave, but she quickly recovered and enjoyed the rest of her weekend. Perhaps the most memorable part of the weekend was the pet that Kate came home with. Mama and Papa took Kate to Animal City on Friday night, and they let her pick out a hermit crab to bring home with her. Kate was so excited to get this hermit crab and know that she was going to get to keep it at her house! While she was still in Murfreesboro, she brought her cage out to the neighbors one day to show them "Squirmy." She then told them that her Mommy wouldn't let her have a dog or a cat, so she got a hermit crab! Hmm, did Mommy ever say that she could get a hermit crab?!? I don't remember saying that either! :) But Squirmy was welcomed into our family when he came home on Monday. Daddy was thrilled to have a new pet. On Wednesday, we went to PetSmart to purchase a larger home for Squirmy, and to get him a friend. Apparently, hermit crabs prefer to be in groups (who knew?), so we just had to purchase another hermit crab and a larger home for them both to live together. Now we have Squirmy and Hermie, our two pet hermit crabs. And guess what...the life expectancy of a hermit crab is 10 years! The months (and years) to come should be interesting! May 2011 Wow, another school year has flown by! It is so hard to believe that Kate has finished kindergarten, and Anna has finished her first year of preschool! We began the month of May in Murfreesboro since we were still without power at home. Our power was finally restored on Monday, May 2 (after being out for five days following the tornadoes), and we returned home late that afternoon. Fortunately, we got all of our coolers unpacked and were able to save most of our food. Mommy had even gone to the store in Murfreesboro to buy milk, bread, and eggs so as to avoid grocery shopping after we got home, which, it turned out, was a great idea (the groceries were overrun!). We sure were glad to be home and settle back into our routine. On Tuesday, Daddy was off work since his office was still without power. He tried to volunteer for relief efforts that morning, but he was turned away because it was a cold, rainy, yucky day. Mommy was home with the kids that morning, and it was a rough morning since there was still no school. Kate ended up being sent to her room for something, but she refused to go. So Mommy picked her up to carry her into her room, and as I was doing so, Kate kicked her door frame in anger. She ended up being so upset that she fell asleep for about an hour, which was a much needed nap! She woke up in time for everybody to take Anna to dance class that afternoon, but she was complaining that her toe hurt. Her toe was a bit swollen that afternoon, but she was able to go to her own dance class that afternoon and be okay. Well, before she went to bed that night, we looked at her toe again, and it was quite bruised. Kate got up on Wednesday morning and went back to school, but Mommy called the doctor as soon as they opened. I made an appointment for Kate and took her later that morning. Dr. Cartwright looked at her toe and immediately sent us for an x-ray. After the x-ray, I took Kate back to school while we waited for the results. She was limping around quite a bit, and her teacher asked that she sit out of PE that day. Late that afternoon, we got confirmation that she had indeed fractured her toe. Fortunately, it was a clean break and nothing needed to be done, and it would heal on its own within 4 to 6 weeks. Imagine how I felt when I heard this...Kate was supposed to have her school field day and her dance recital both within the next 10 days! That weekend, we went back to Murfreesboro. We had planned a trip with our good friends to go see an air show on Saturday, and we stayed at Mama and Papa's house over the weekend. We took the Rego's to some of our favorite restaurants, and we went to the Great Tennessee Air Show in Smyrna on Saturday. We were able to see the Thunderbirds perform, along with several other smaller acts. The weather was supposed to be hot, but Saturday arrived cool and cloudy. The overcast skies actually made for a nice air show...until it started to rain. The show went on, but we were very chilly as a light drizzle fell for about half an hour. After it rained, though, the skies cleared up and the sun came out in time for the Thunderbirds to perform! What an awesome show! The girls thought it was a bit loud at times, but they seemed to think the planes were really cool too. Nathan was great that day; he started a couple times when he was sleeping and the F-16 roared overhead, but otherwise he did great. Sunday was Mother's Day, and we had a special surprise. We were taken to the Country Club (the same place that Mommy and Daddy had our wedding reception) for brunch. Brunch was delicious, and it was a great way to spend Mother's Day with my Mom, my family, and our friends. Mommy was also given special Mother's Day cards and gifts. I was given a garnet stone to put in a necklace; this is Nathan's birthstone (I received Kate's and Anna's birthstones on my first Mother's Day after they were born too). Kate also wanted to pick out a special gift for me. She and Daddy went shopping, and Kate picked out a beautiful butterfly necklace all by herself. I love it, and I love even more that it was completely her idea! Kate also made a handprint tile for me at school. Later in the week, I received Anna's special Mother's Day gift that she made at school...a pretty vase that Anna decorated all by herself. Mother's Day was so special this year, especially since I was able to celebrate it with my three beautiful children! On Tuesday of the following week, Kate had K-2 field day at Columbia Elementary. Mommy volunteered that morning, and I brought Anna and Nathan with me. Mommy was assigned to the boat races, which consisted of two small kiddie pools filled with water. There was a toy boat in each pool and the kids were given straws to blow air through and point them at the boats. It was a relay, so one child would blow the boat across the pool and then run back to tag the next person. We were able to see Kate's class while we were there, so that was a treat. By the way, her class won that relay versus Mrs. Frye's class. It happened to be the hottest day of the year so far that day, so we were all quite warm as highs approached 90 degrees. Anna even got so warm that she ended up pouring some water on her head, deciding that she didn't like her wet shirt, and then taking her shirt off! That's my Anna! Nathan was a great baby; he slept the entire time we were at Columbia. After the morning session, we had a little bit of time before we had to take Anna to dance, so we went inside to eat lunch with Kate's class. Friday the 13th was a crazy day. Kate and Anna had their dress rehearsal for dance at 2:00 that afternoon. After Mommy, Daddy, and sleeping Nathan enjoyed a quiet breakfast together, we picked Kate up from school early around 12:30. Then we picked Anna up from school and headed downtown to the Von Braun Center. Mommy got both girls dressed in their costumes, hair done, and makeup applied, and then we were able to watch them dance. Both girls did awesome for their dress rehearsal, and we were excited to see the actual recital the next day. Unfortunately, we didn't have any family in town for the recital this year. Gramma and Grampa were on vacation in Hawaii, and Mama and Papa were tending to GiJo, who had fallen and broken his leg on Thursday night. But Kate and Anna were thrilled about their recital, and they both danced perfectly! Anna's 2-year-old class went first after the opening number. They danced ballet to "We're Going to the Zoo." Kate's class followed two songs behind with "I've Got A Feeling," and they did tap. We gave them flowers afterwards, took lots of pictures, and then went to lunch with friends. The following week was relatively quiet. Mommy spent a few days at Kate's school helping out with Teacher Appreciation Week. On Friday, Kate had her end of the year kindergarten program at 8:30 that morning. We arrived at school right after dropping Kate off at school and got front row seats for the performance. The kindergartners sang about 10 songs, recited a couple poems, and showed off their technology project. Kate's class did a photostory entitled, "What we liked best about Kindergarten." Each student had to write a sentence about what they liked best and why, read their sentence, have their picture taken doing their favorite thing, and then draw on the computer a picture of them doing that thing. Each student's entry was compiled into a Powerpoint slideshow. Kate's sentence read, "I like recess. I like it cus i like to play with my frends." It was a great time to see Kate perform and see just how much she has learned (both academically and socially) in the past year! That same day, Anna had her end-of the-year party at school. They made ice cream sundaes, which Anna thoroughly enjoyed! That weekend, Daddy spent Saturday morning volunteering for tornado relief. We went out to Bridge Street Saturday night to get ice cream at Maggie Moo's...one of our favorite summertime activities. On Sunday afternoon, we enjoyed the beautiful day by playing outside with water guns, water balloons, and the sprinkler. It was a lot of fun and a great way to cool down on such a hot day! The following week, Kate had her kindergarten celebration on Wednesday, and parents were invited to attend. After dropping Kate off at school, Mommy went to set up for her class' sponsored activity, carnival games. Mommy brought a ring toss game (with pool rings and 2-liter coke bottles) and the Bozo game (where you try to toss the ball into consecutive buckets). One of the other room mom's brought her corn hole game. At 8:30, the six kindergarten classes came outside to begin their celebration. Each class sponsored one activity, and the classes all rotated through each activity station every fifteen minutes. Kate's class began with the bubbles, then proceeded to the jump rope. Following that, we all went to the playground for some free play. The next station was sidewalk chalk, where Kate and her friends tried to cover the whole track with chalk! Following chalk, the class took a class picture and then got to do hula hoops. Kate showed off her awesome hula-hooping skills! The last station for Mrs. Adams' class was carnival games. Everybody seemed to have a great morning and had lots of fun playing all of the games. After the celebration, Mommy stayed to have lunch with Kate. Where was Anna during all this time? Since siblings weren't allowed to attend (I did bring Nathan, but he slept in his stroller the whole time), Daddy stayed home with Anna that morning. He then took her to Asbury for her very last day of Weekday for this year. Mommy picked Anna up at 1:00, and she seemed to have had a great day. It is so hard to believe that Anna has finished her first year of preschool. She's learned a bit and had a lot of fun this year! Friday was Kate's last full day of kindergarten. Daddy was off work that day, so the four of us went to eat lunch with Kate and her class one last time. Kate enjoyed cleaning out her classroom during the week and bringing home all of her folders, journals, school supplies, etc. She also had a day to exchange autographs with the boys and girls in her class, so now her yearbook has everybody's name handwritten in it. The weekend was very hot, so we spent a lot of time at our neighborhood pool. We spent several hours there both Saturday and Sunday, and the pool felt great! Nathan got in the water for the first time on Saturday. He slept for a good portion of our time at the pool, but he finally woke up and we were able to get him in. Surprisingly, he was very content with Daddy holding him in the pool and he didn't fuss at all about being in the cool water. Kate was excited to see one of her classmates, Kieran, at the pool too. Monday was Memorial Day, and Daddy planned to smoke a brisket for dinner. Mama, Papa, and Uncle Tim decided at the last minute to come down for the day, and we enjoyed spending time with them. After they left, the Rego's came over for a yummy dinner! They stayed until almost 9:00, and it was a nice way to kick off our summer. Before summer could officially begin, though, Kate had to finish her last half-day of school on Tuesday, May 31. Yes, it's strange to go for a half-day after Memorial Day, but we had to make up the days that they missed school due to the huge snowstorm in January. When I picked Kate up at 11:00, she was grinning from ear to ear. She had a "different" day...they started with big group, went outside to play, watched Charlotte's Web (they had recently finished reading the chapter book as a class), ate snack, and came home. She seemed to enjoy her last day of school, and she was very excited to see on her report card that she's been promoted to first grade! She had an awesome report card this time, earning all 3's (proficient) in every grading category. Kate has learned so much this year; we were blessed to have an awesome teacher who helped her grow and learn so much! After school, we went to Chick-fil-A to celebrate the beginning of summer vacation. The afternoon was quiet, but then we did more celebrating after Daddy came home from work. We went to Red Robin for dinner, and then we went to Orange Tree to get frozen yogurt for dessert. Kate had been requesting to go to Red Robin, so it was a huge treat for her. Mommy and Daddy also gave Kate and Anna the "Tangled" movie to celebrate all of their accomplishments this school year. We are so proud of both of our girls and how much they are learning and growing! Nathan continues to do well also. One of his favorite things is his Baby Einstein play mat; he loves to look up at the lights. He also enjoys doing pat-a-cake, or anything else that involves his hands/arms. He continues to sleep well at night. He has slept up to eight hours, but he typically still wakes up around 4:30 to eat. When we're home, he takes a long (2-3 hours) morning nap in his swing and a couple of shorter naps in the afternoon. He is a joy to have in our lives!! April 2011 April 2011...a month that we will never forget. The month began like any other, but ended in a way we don't wish to repeat. We drove to Murfreesboro on Saturday, April 2. This was Nathan's first overnight trip away from home. Mommy and Daddy went with Mama, Papa, and Uncle Tim to see the musical CATS at TPAC that evening. Kate, Anna, and Nathan spent the night at Gramma and Grampa's. The girls enjoyed the special attention, and Nathan did well being away from Mommy for a few hours. The following weekend, we rented the inflatable that Kate was supposed to have at her birthday party (remember it rained that weekend). Kate and Anna were so excited to see Daddy set up the inflatable! It was barely plugged in before they were climing on it already. They jumped and jumped and jumped all weekend long! On Saturday morning, Kate had a couple of her classmates come over to play. Ali and Kayda came over for about two hours and jumped on the inflatable, ate snacks, and just had lots of fun! Anna loved to play with the big girls! The next day, we decided to get more use out of the inflatable. We had a cookout after church at our house with five other families. The kids enjoyed playing on the inflatable, and the adults enjoyed visiting for several hours with our friends! Later that afternoon, while Nathan was napping, Mommy and Daddy played on the inflatable with the girls. We were all exhausted after such a fun and busy weekend! The following weekend brought about more fun and celebrations. On Saturday morning, we went to Asbury for their annual children's Easter egg hunt. While the weekend before was hot, this weekend was not. The girls hunted for eggs in pants and sweatshirts...and they were still cold! We were all glad to go inside to see the puppet show following the egg hunt. That afternoon, Gramma, Grampa, Great-Gramma, and Great-Grampa came over to our house to play. They were such a huge help with the kids so Mommy and Daddy could prepare food for the next day. Sunday, April 17 was a very special day for Nathan. He was baptized into God's family at the 8:45 Traditional service at Asbury United Methodist Church. Reverend Jimmy Aycock performed the baptism; this was the same pastor who baptized both of the girls. Nathan was excellent for the baptism. He didn't cry at all...even when Jimmy poured the water on his face. :) Mark and Laura Lynn Bell, close friends of ours, are Nathan's Godparents. After the service, we had everybody come over to our house for a celebratory brunch. It was truly a joyous day! We thank God for Nathan, and we pray that he will grow in his faith every day of his life. The next day, Kate was able to be fit in for her six-year well-checkup with her pediatrician. Dr. Cartwright is very pleased with he growth and developmental progress. She's in the 25th percentile for weight and 50th for height. That evening was a big deal for Anna. For naptime that day, she finally went to sleep without her pacifier. We have been trying to have her give up her paci for quite awhile, but she's never been able to do it. We had been telling her that she can get a big-girl (toddler) bed if she stops using her paci at naptime/bedtime. Well, that day, she was finally ready enough for a big-girl bed that she went down for nap without her paci. So that night, Daddy converted her crib to a big-girl bed. Anna hasn't used her pacifier since! It has taken her about two weeks to soothe herself to sleep without her paci, though. We've had several nights where she has stayed in her room for nearly two hours before finally falling asleep. In fact, she continues to fall asleep on the floor instead of in her bed. Maybe the transition to a big-girl bed in addition to losing her pacifier was a bit too much, but we're thrilled that she's no longer using her paci and that she finally seems to be going to sleep easier. Later that week, we went to the annual Easter egg hunt and movie night at Daddy's work. Both girls found quite a few eggs (with lots of candy inside), we all ate pizza for dinner, and then we watched a Veggie Tales Easter movie. Even Nathan enjoyed watching the movie. He typically watches a Baby Einstein movie once a day, especially in the evenings. He could be tired and fussy and unable to stay awake any longer, but as soon as that movie comes on, he's enthralled by it until it's over. We remember Kate's similar love for these Baby Einstein movies. Speaking of comparisons, Nathan's demeanor is very similar to Kate's as a baby. Nathan is very easy-going and laid back. He rarely cries except when he's hungry or ready for a nap/bed. He typically falls asleep when he gets in his carseat, which is quite often with two older and busy sisters. He loves to sit in his bouncy seat and "talk" to us; we see his sweet smiles all the time now. Getting back to the month, though, we've come to Easter weekend. On Saturday, we dyed Easter eggs and made a rather different dessert. Kate and Anna helped make resurrection cookies this year. The cookies have great symbolism and help to reinforce the true meaning of Easter. After beating pecans (Jesus was beaten by Roman soldiers), smelling vinegar (Jesus was given vinegar to drink while on the cross), tasting salt (salty tears) and sugar (sweetest part is that Jesus loves us and died for us), and mixing egg whites (represents our purity in God's eyes because Jesus cleansed us from our sins), we put the cookies in a warm oven and sealed it shut. When we checked on the cookies on Easter morning, the cookies were hollow, just like the tomb where Jesus was buried! We woke up with enough time on Easter morning to take family pictures and search for Easter baskets before church. We were supposed to go to a friend's house for lunch, but their daughter came down with the dreaded fever virus, so our plans changed. Instead of a traditional Easter dinner, we decided to enjoy the beautiful day and have a picnic lunch outside. We stopped by Kentucky Fried Chicken (which was surprisingly very crowded for Easter Sunday), picked up a bucket of chicken, and took it to the greenway/park. After lunch, Kate and Anna played on the playground for a bit and then we all took a walk on the greenway. The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed the time spent together as a family! The following week was supposed to be busy. Anna was scheduled to have her spring program at preschool on Wednesday, April 27. We woke up that morning at 5 AM to tornado warnings in our area. Madison City Schools were delayed two hours as a result. Typically, when schools are delayed two hours, Asbury Weekday should be closed. Since this was the day of the program, though, they decided to start school at 10:30 and proceed with the program. The weather was supposed to improve in the morning before getting bad again later in the day. Well, as I was driving Kate to school at 9:15, the tornado sirens went off again. Since we were already halfway to school, I went ahead and dropped her off at school so she could go to her safe place. Then I went to Asbury to wait for Anna's school to open (the tornado that caused the warning was well north of us). I sat in the car and talked to Mom, who was trying to drive down to Huntsville in time for Anna's program. Fortunately, she made it here without any problems (despite a tornado having come through Murfreesboro earlier that morning). Anna's spring program started right on time, but the skies were getting dark outside. After one class performed, the director came running up and said for everyone to get down in the basement; we were under another tornado warning. This was the end of the spring program. Students, teachers, and parents ended up staying in the basement classrooms for about an hour before we were given the all-clear. While we were waiting, Anna's class performed their two songs, "All the Fish" and "The More We Sing Together." Of course, because we were in there, Anna didn't want to perform, so she stood up with a grumpy look on her face the whole time. She loves to sing "All the Fish" at home, though...complete with the deep voice for the Great Big Fish and the high-pitched voice for the Teeny Tiny Fish. Anyway, we were finally allowed to leave, and we got home around 12:30. Because there was more severe weather forecasted, Kate's school was dismissing early at 1:00, so Mama and Mommy went to pick her up from school. Kate said she had to go in "turtle position" for tornado warnings three times that day, and once she was in position for "NINE HOURS." It must have seemed like nine hours to a kindergartener, but the kids in her class did great through it all. After we got home, the skies brightened up a little bit, and Daddy went out to pick up some lunch for everybody. After we ate lunch, Daddy looked at the radar and decided that he should go back to work (he had a major deadline to meet). Sometime after 3:00, the first major round of storms for the afternoon rolled in. Daddy was at work, and fortunately Mama was here with Mommy and the kids. We had the TV turned up loud and were in and out of our hall closet. They tracked a couple of tornadoes that moved close to our house. Our power went out at one point as the storms were moving through, so we went to find our battery-operated radio. Mommy was on the phone with Daddy, who was at work, as they began to track a dangerous rotation that was headed straight for our house. Mommy took one look outside and yelled for everyone to get in turtle position in the closet. Mama protected Kate and Anna in the closet, and Mommy leaned over Nathan. We had coats on our heads to protect ourselves from potential falling debris. Since Daddy was at work, he was able to confirm for us when it was safe to come out of the closet. We found out later that an EF-1 tornado passed directly through our neighborhood. It knocked down several large trees, fences, and power poles, as well as tore the steeple off the church that's adjacent to our neighborhood. It was such a scary time! Fortunately, our house was fine with the exception of losing a few shingles on the roof. It was a historic day for tornado warnings in North Alabama. As of this writing, there have been 238 fatalities in the state as a result of that one day of tornadoes (at least 23 confirmed tornadoes statewide). An EF-5 tornado passed just five miles from our house, damaging large power lines, and completely destroying tons of homes in a matter of minutes. We know several people who lost their homes and some who lost family members on this terrible day, and our thoughts and prayers go out to all of the victims. There was eventually a short break between tornadoes and Daddy was able to make it home around 6:30. The power was still out in the entire county at this time. Since we have a gas range, though, we were able to cook some pasta for dinner that night and eat it under yet another tornado warning and powerfully strong wind and rain at our house. The risk for severe weather was finally over around 8 PM that evening. Thank goodness we had a battery-operated radio and Mommy's iPhone so we could keep up with the news and weather. We found out that it could be 3-5 days before power was restored because the tornadoes knocked out power from TVA into the area. We put the kids to bed with flashlights that night, hugged them extra tight, and went to bed ourselves after such a long day. The next morning we decided to go up to Murfreesboro and stay until power returned. Fortunately, we were able to pack up coolers with our food so we didn't lose much of it. We drove to Murfreesboro and stayed there until Monday. We are so thankful to our family that allowed us to inconvenience them for a few days! During these storms, Mommy and Daddy were supposed to go out that evening to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, which we eventually were able to go out for later that weekend. Kate was also supposed to have Young Minds at Work Day at Lockheed Martin on Thursday, which she was so excited about, but has thankfully been rescheduled for June. So although none of our original plans happened because of these storms, but we are thankful to all be alive and well. We are also thankful that we are in a position to give and help those in the rebuilding process in our area as we all move forward to a brighter month ahead. March 2011 Happy 6th Birthday, Kate!! It is so hard to believe that our firstborn is already six years old. Kate is such a blessing in our lives, and she continues to amaze us and bring us joy every single day. Kate has done so well in kindergarten this year, and we are so proud of her. She is doing an excellent job with reading! In fact, she prefers to read books to us rather than us reading to her now. So much fun to see our little girl grow up and learn new things! During the first week of March, Kate and Anna both celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday at school. Kate had a special event on that Friday morning. The kindergarten class hosted their first annual Green Eggs and Ham breakfast that morning, and families were invited to attend. Mommy, Daddy, Anna, and Nathan met Kate at school that morning and we all ate breakfast together in the cafeteria. After our delicious (ha ha) breakfast of green eggs and ham, strawberries, biscuits, juice, and chocolate milk, we all listened to two Dr. Seuss stories. It was a fun treat to come to Kate's school and share the morning with her class! All three of our children had a first at the beginning of March. Nathan was given his first bottle on the evening of Friday, March 4. Mommy was able to go out to a friend's house for a couple hours that evening, so Daddy stayed home with the kids. Daddy gave Nathan his bottle, and Kate and Anna both got to help feed him! This was something that they were both looking forward to doing since before Nathan was born. Kate loved being able to hold her baby brother and feed him his bottle all by herself. We enjoyed some beautiful weather the following weekend. We spent lots of time playing outside. Kate, Anna, Mommy, and Daddy decorated our entire driveway with sidewalk chalk on Saturday. On Sunday, we had some special visitors. Papa, Uncle Tim, GiJo, and Uncle Nick came down to visit us for a few hours that afternoon. GiJo recently moved back to Murfreesboro, and Uncle Nick (Papa's brother) helped him move. Since he hadn't seen Nathan yet, they decided to come down for the afternoon. It was a short but fun visit. Since it was so nice, we all went to sit/play outside after lunch. Everybody got some cuddle time with Baby Nathan too! The girls' spring break began on March 14. We didn't have a lot planned for the week, but we had a good time anyway. Fortunately, Kate and Anna played so well with each other that week; they really enjoyed each other's company and playing together. The girls woke up to a mess in the house on Thursday morning, courtesy of Louie the Leprechaun in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. He scattered green tinsel all over the floor, he moved toys around, turned chairs upside down, and turned the orange juice green. Of course the girls thought this was hilarious. Later that morning, Mommy took the kids to the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Huntsville. The weather was absolutely perfect outside. We arrived downtown about thirty minutes before the parade started. We ended up sitting with Kate's kindergarten teacher and her two kids as well as one of her classmates with his family. The parade lasted about half an hour. The girls got candy and green bead necklaces. Since it was such a gorgeous day, we went to Bridge Street afterwards to eat lunch on the patio at Tommy's Pizza. It was a special treat and a fun day with my girls (and Nathan too, but he slept the whole time). During the week, Mommy instituted a chart for good behavior. It was something that Kate had been asking for (similar to what they do at school), and Spring Break was the perfect time to do it. We called our chart, "Smiles for Spring Break." Each time Mommy spotted good behavior from one of the girls, they got to draw a smiley face on the chart. We had forty boxes on the chart, and if the girls filled up all of the boxes, we were going to have a special surprise on Friday. Well, on Thursday night, the girls colored their last smiley face. We woke them up on Friday morning, and played Anna's dance recital song for them. Anna's recital song is "We're Going to the Zoo," so guess where we were going! :) We drove down to the Birmingham Zoo and spent the day there. We had never been before, so it was a new experience for all of us. We all wore shorts and enjoyed the perfect weather as we walked around and saw the safari animals. After we ate lunch, we went to the lorikeet exhibit. Daddy took Kate and Anna inside, while scaredy-cat Mommy stayed outside with Nathan. The birds were flying all around and landing (and pooping) on people. Kate was so excited when one bird landed on her shoulder. At one point, she even had two birds on her head! Anna wasn't too sure about the whole experience. We also took the girls to the petting zoo area, and they enjoyed interacting with those animals. At the end of the warm day, we treated the girls to a ride on the carousel and a popsicle before time to go home. We ended up staying at the zoo until 5:00 that evening. We were all exhausted, but it was well worth it! On Sunday, March 20, we went to the Gjesvold's to allow Kate to celebrate her birthday with her Godparents. We had pizza for lunch, and then Mrs. Heather had a special dessert treat for the kiddos...make-your-own ice cream sundaes! We ended up staying at their house far longer than we planned, but it was fun to let the kids play and the adults visit together since it doesn't seem to happen often anymore. Thank you Mrs. Heather, Mr. Jason, Jack, and Carter for such a fun afternoon! The following weekend, we celebrated Kate's sixth birthday. Kate wanted a Cinderella-themed, girls-only birthday party this year with her friends and classmates. She wanted to have an inflatable outside again. For the past three years that she's had an inflatable for her party, they have forecasted bad weather for the party weekend. Unfortunately, this was the first year that we lost and the weather won. The chance of rain kept getting higher throughout the week until we decided to cancel our inflatable reservation on Friday morning. We went ahead and had Kate's birthday part inside on Saturday afternoon. Mommy and Daddy scambled at the last minute to come up with some indoor activities to keep 11 girls entertained for two hours. The party started at 1:00 with a fun game of Cinderella Says. After that, the girls moved to the kitchen table and decorated their own foam door hangers. After the craft, we played Cinderella Bingo with homemade bingo cards. Kate had a blast opening all of her wonderful gifts after that. We commented after the party that it looked like Christmas morning around here! Finally, it was time for cake. Kate requested a cookie cake this year, which we all enjoyed very much. In addition to cookie cake, we had fruit, chips, pretzels, and vanilla ice cream cups for the girls. After eating all of that sugar, we decided to play Just Dance Kids to burn off some energy before sending the girls home. Everybody had lots of fun, despite our plans for the inflatable being rained out! That evening, we went to Rosie's for dinner with Mama, Papa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Kellie, Gramma, and Grampa. Kate was even treated to birthday sopapillas. Kate's actual birthday was Monday, and she was excited to go to school that day to celebrate with her class. However, she woke up around 3:30 Monday morning with a 102 degree fever. What a yucky start to her birthday! We gave her some Tylenol and she fell asleep again until about 7:30...at which time she came running downstairs like nothing was the matter. Mommy made blueberry muffins for breakfast, stuck a candle in one, and Mommy and Anna sang Happy Birthday to Kate that morning. Her temperature remained normal all day long, but then her fever returned just before we went out to dinner. Kate wanted to go to Chick-fil-a for dinner, and we still took her out since she felt okay and her fever was very low-grade at this point. She even wanted to have her picture taken with the Chick-fil-a cow. Anna, however, wanted to be nowhere near the cow. After dinner, we came home and let Kate open her birthday presents from our family. She got a snorkel, a soccer ball, and a new bike. We had looked at bikes briefly the day before and she was begging us for a new bike since hers was too small. She was so excited to get the pink bike that she saw at Toys R Us! Finally, we sang Happy Birthday to her one more time and had ice cream cupcakes from Maggie Moo's (YUM!) for dessert. Kate's temperature hovered around 100 degrees until Wednesday morning, when I took her to the doctor. By the time we got to the doctor, her temperature had returned to normal again. But he did say that she had an ear infection, so I'm glad I got her in and on antibiotics before it bothered her. Kate was able to return to school on Thursday and celebrate her birthday with her class. Mommy, Anna, and Nathan went to school at lunchtime and bought ice cream for the class that day. Anna even had a fudge pop at school with Kate's classmates. March was such a fun month! Nathan continues to grow bigger and bring us so much happiness. He smiled for the first time this month and rewards us with smiles often now. Anna continues to love her baby brother so much. She loves it when Nathan "talks" to her, and she's always helping by giving him a toy or his pacifier. It is a joy to watch our children grow each and every day. February 2011 February has been an absolutely amazing and wonderful month! To begin, we welcomed our son into this world on Monday, January 31 at 11:19 AM. Nathan Tyler weighed 8 pounds even and was 19.5 inches long...and was absolutely perfect in every way! After Nathan was born, we e-mailed Kate's teacher and sent a picture. Kate was thrilled (and slightly embarrassed) that Mrs. Adams showed the picture to the whole class on the Smartboard. Because Mommy is one of the room mom's in Kate's class, the entire class was excited for me and counting down the days until Nathan was born. So it was very appropriate that they were all able to share in our family's joy that day! Kate and Anna were well taken care of by friends on the day that Nathan was born, but they sure were excited when they finally came to the hospital around 5:00 that evening. Kate wanted to see and hold her baby brother immediately. Anna was very shy at first, but by Tuesday, she was in love and wanted to hold him frequently (for just a few seconds each time). Kate and Anna brought gifts for Nathan, and Nathan had special gifts for the girls too. Kate picked out carseat pull-toys for Nathan, and he gave Just Dance Kids (for Wii) to her. Anna chose to give Nathan a Baby Einstein ball, and Nathan gave Anna a Mickey Mouse Sing-A-Long Songs DVD. The proud big sisters each brought photo albums to school that week to share with their friends and teachers. Mommy, Daddy, and Nathan came home from the hospital on Wednesday morning. The girls were thrilled that our whole family was home together. We spent the next couple weeks taking it easy at home. Daddy took two weeks off of work to help out around the house. Mama and GiGi were at our house through Thursday morning. On Saturday morning, Kate and Anna both had makeup dance classes (from our snow week back in January) at 8 AM. Because we were tired of being in the house, we all took the girls to dance, thus making it Nathan's first real outing. That afternoon, Mommy took Kate to a birthday party for one of her classmates at a local pizza restaurant. The kids were all given aprons and chef's hats, and they all got to make their own mini pizzas. The party was a lot of fun! Kate really enjoyed forming her pizza dough, adding sauce and cheese, and eating the finished product. Gramma and Grampa came back down to our house on Monday and spent a couple days helping us out. On Thursday of that week, Nathan experienced another first...his first snowfall. We got one to two inches of snow overnight, and Kate's school was cancelled the next day. Fortunately, Daddy was home from work, so he was able to take Kate and Anna outside to play for awhile. Mommy bundled Nathan up and brought him outside for a few photos, but then we quickly went back inside. On Sunday, February 13, Nathan had his first trip to church. He went to service with us and did really well. Daddy went back to work on Monday, February 14. We adjusted at home quite well, and it was actually nice to get into a routine again. Since it was Valentine's Day, Mommy and the girls made special heart-shaped brownies (with chocolate chips and frosting) to celebrate. Yum! Mama, GiGi, Uncle Tim, and Papa came down the following weekend. We enjoyed the company, and they all enjoyed lots of cuddle-time with Nathan. On Saturday evening, Daddy had a special date with Kate and Anna to the Daddy-Daughter Disco at our church. They had pizza for dinner, did some disco dancing, and then got to dance to Just Dance Kids. While they were there, Daddy was able to meet a special friend of Kate's. Kate's kindergarten class is partnered with students in a third-grade class for reading buddies. Kate's reading buddy, Emma, was at the Daddy-Daughter Disco. Kate was so excited to see Emma, and the two of them enjoyed dancing together. Since the weather has been so beautiful lately, we've enjoyed quite a bit of time outside. During the last weekend in the month, Kate suggested that we go to the Botanical Garden. We picked up sandwiches, and went to enjoy a picnic lunch at the gardens. The weather was absolutely perfect, and we ended up spending about five hours there. Kate and Anna had so much fun running around and playing in the different treehouses. Nathan was an excellent baby and spent most of the time sleeping. Speaking of sleeping, that is what he seems to do best. He is beginning to wake up a little bit more, though. We're getting into a routine with him where he sleeps most of the morning and afternoon, but we keep him awake during the evening. He typically wakes up twice during the night to eat, which isn't too bad. Kate and Anna have been the best big sisters. They have both been a tremendous help with everything. Kate loved to hold Nathan early on...until his diaper leaked on her one day. :) She has since gotten over that and enjoys holding him again. I will oftentimes ask Kate to entertain Nathan for a few minutes. She will stroke his head and talk baby-talk to him; it is the sweetest thing to see her interact with him. Kate is looking forward to being able to feed him a bottle. Anna still loves to hold Nathan, and the amount of time that she holds him varies greatly. She likes to pat his back to burp him, give him his pacifier if he's fussy, and she always tells me when he's crying. She continually says that she's so glad that he came out of Mommy's belly. Kate and Anna are proud to be Nathan's big sisters. God has blessed us so richly with three beautiful and amazing children, and we are truly enjoying life as a family of five! January 2011 Happy 3rd Birthday to Anna! Because of Nathan's impending arrival, we chose to celebrate Anna's birthday with family and friends a couple weeks early on January 8. We chose a Minnie Mouse theme, and Daddy made her birthday invitations. Anna was so excited in the days leading up to her birthday party! The party began at 11 AM on Saturday morning. In addition to family (Mama, Papa, Uncle Tim, GiJo, Gramma, and Grampa), Anna had several friends at the party (Megan, Jack, Carter, Maggie, Lexi, and Blake...along with their parents). Anna had a special Minnie Mouse shirt with her name on it that Mommy and Daddy ordered for her. She was excited to see the decorations, especially the giant Minnie Mouse head mylar balloon. As the party guests arrived, the kids were all given homemade Minnie (or Mickey) Mouse ears to wear. We ate pizza, chips, and fresh veggies for lunch, and then we let the kids play the game. Anna wasn't really interested in the game, but the rest of the kids loved it! We had a scavenger hunt throughout the house, and sometimes the kids had to call "Oh Toodles" to get a mousekatool to help in their hunt (based on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse). The "prizes" were the kids' take-home goody buckets. After the scavenger hunt, it was time for Anna to open her presents. She tore into those things and was excited to get so many great gifts! Next it was time for birthday cake. Mommy made Anna's birthday cake and cupcakes this year. The cake itself was a Mickey Mouse pan, but Mommy turned Mickey into Minnie with a few simple changes. Mommy also made cupcakes with pink and white polka dot frosting and oreo cookies for mouse ears. Anna said her favorite part of the day was when everybody sang Happy Birthday to her. Kate helped Anna blow out her candle, and then Anna cut the cake (and proceeded to try to lick the frosting). It was a yummy cake and a great celebration of our little girl's third birthday! The weathermen had been predicting a large snowfall for Sunday night into Monday, but nobody really believed it until it happened. Just after 8:00 Sunday night, the first flakes began to fall. School had already been cancelled for Monday in anticipation of this great winter weather event. Well, they were actually right this time! By the time Mommy and Daddy went to bed around 11:00, we already had about four inches of snow on the ground. We even experienced thundersnow, which was pretty cool! Kate and Anna were able to see it begin snowing before they went to bed Sunday night. We woke up Monday morning to an amazing nine inches of snow in our yard! This snowfall was the third-largest ever recorded for the city of Huntsville. We were snowed in! As soon as everybody woke up and finished breakfast, it was time to bundle up and go outside and play. Living in Alabama, we really don't have any snow gear, but we managed anyway. The girls each had on three pairs of pants, multiple shirts, coats, hat, scarf, and gloves...and garden boots. We went outside and began throwing snowballs at each other and trying to walk through the yard. Daddy ended up having to clear a path for Anna to walk because the snow was too deep for her. We built a snowman, made snow angels, built a snow fort, ate LOTS of snow, went down the slide, and had lots of fun. Everytime I looked at Kate, she had a bite of snow in her mouth! After everybody was freezing cold, we went inside to warm up wtih some hot chocolate. After lunch, it was time to get bundled up and go back outside. This time, we let the girls have fun with our Alabama sleds. Anna used a laundry basket with a rope tied to it, and Kate used a rubbermaid container. They worked perfectly, and we quickly discovered that our driveway is great for sledding! The girls had a blast sledding down our driveway over and over and over again. And Mommy and Daddy had so much fun watching them play! We went back outside for more of the same fun on Tuesday morning before Daddy had to go back to work. Because the temperatures were so cold, it took quite awhile for the snow to all melt. Kate and Anna were out of school for the whole week! On Wednesday, Mommy had a doctor's appointment (this was a makeup appointment from Monday when the entire city shut down). Kate was excited to be able to go with us since she hasn't heard Nathan's heartbeat since the summer. Mommy also took the girls to lunch at Chick-fil-a, just to do something out of the house since we were already out. By Thursday, we were all going stir-crazy. The temperatures were freezing outside, so it was better to be in the house, but we were all quite bored. We made it through the week, though, and we went out to run errands that weekend with the rest of North Alabama! Monday was Martin Luther King day, so Kate was out of school yet again. Mommy had another doctor's appointment on Monday, and after that, Mommy took the girls to lunch again. It was a fun day, but we were all ready for school to start back on Tuesday! Tuesday brought about our normal routine of school for Kate and dance class for both girls. We weren't sure what was going to happen with our routine, though, because they were predicting snow again for Thursday night. Well, we got close to an inch of snow that night, but fortunately Madison City schools opened on time on Friday. Every school system around us was either closed or delayed, but we were right on time. This is great because it meant that Anna could go to school. Friday was Anna's PJ's and Pancakes day at school, and it was also the day that we planned to celebrate her birthday with her class. Anna wore her Ariel pajamas to school, and she got to bring a blanket and stuffed Minnie Mouse with her that day. Mommy and Daddy first went to Kate's school to eat lunch with her, and then we went to Anna's school to eat lunch and sing Happy Birthday. Anna was less than thrilled to see us at her school. When we got there, her class was sitting in a semi-circle listening to a story. As soon as Anna saw us, she became shy and started covering her eyes and squirming in her chair. For lunch, they had pancakes (one of her favorite foods), sausage, bananas, mixed fruit, and orange juice. Anna refused to even touch her lunch and she was clinging to Daddy the whole time. Her teachers said she never acts like this. Finally, we suggested that we leave so she could eat her lunch...as soon as we moved to the hall, she began eating her lunch. We were able to come back in and sing Happy Birthday to her and pass out cookies to her classmates. Mommy made sugar cookies with pink frosting and white polka dots. Everybody enjoyed the cookies, and then it was time for Mommy and Daddy to leave so the kids could watch a movie. Anna had a smile on her face as we walked out the door and her teacher put in a Veggie Tales movie. We celebrated Anna's actual birthday on Sunday. We got up and went to church as usual, and then we went to IHOP for breakfast. After IHOP, we came home and Anna got to open her presents from Mommy, Daddy, and Kate. Mommy and Daddy got her her own Leapster (just like Kate's), and Kate picked out a game for it. Anna was very excited and couldn't wait to begin playing. After playing with it for a minute, she then decided she was ready for her cookie cake. We sang Happy Birthday to Anna again, and then she blew out her candles all by herself. We all then enjoyed some cookie cake. It's hard to believe that Anna is three years old, but we are so thankful for our baby girl and all the joy that she brings to us! Anna had her three-year-old well-checkup visit with our pediatrician on Wednesday, January 26. She weighs 26 pounds and is about 37 inches tall. This is about the 10th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for height. Dr. Cartwright is very pleased with her growth; he just thinks she'll be tall and thin like her big sister. :) Since Anna is now three, she had her blood pressure checked at this appointment too. She sat still like such a big girl while the machine took her blood pressure. In fact, no tears were shed at this whole appointment...even when she had to get an unexpected vaccination. Typically the three-year checkup doesn't involve shots, but there was a nationwide shortage in one when she was younger that she had to have made up today. Mommy explained to her what would happen, and then we laid Anna on the table. She was very relaxed for it, and she simply whispered the word "ouch" when the nurse gave her the shot. We were so proud of what a big girl Anna was for this appointment! December 2010 On Saturday, December 4, we took Kate and Anna to see Disney on Ice: Princess Classics. We saw several months ago that the show was coming to Huntsville so we quickly purchased tickets. However, we did not tell Kate and Anna that we were going until Thursday night. They were very excited about going to see the princesses ice skating! The show was at 11 AM on Saturday, and we arrived around 10:30. Of course we let Kate and Anna each pick out one treat before the show started. Anna chose popcorn, and Kate chose a snow-cone in a cool Tinkerbell cup. The girls shared their treats with each other (and with Mommy and Daddy too), and the performance was great! We all loved seeing the stories of Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, and Cinderella come to life through ice skating! On Monday, December 6, Kate had a special kindergarten performance at the PTA meeting. What a difference between her preschool performances and this kindergarten performance! The kindergarten classes sang five songs, and Kate sang every song and did all of the motions. Her favorite song was called Hip Hop Reindeer. We were very proud of Kate for singing so well! Two days later, Anna had her first Christmas performance at preschool. Anna's two-year-old class had been practicing to sing at the end of the program with the older kids. Anna's class came in and lined up on the stage, and then everybody sang Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Even though Anna knew the words to both songs (she loved singing them at home), she didn't sing anything on the stage. She did, however, shake her jingle bells at the appropriate time. We were very happy that she stood on the stage for this first program and didn't cry! :) That weekend, Mommy and Daddy had our company Christmas party. Gramma and Grampa came down to babysit while we went to our party. On Saturday, Papa flew into the HSV airport from one of his Christmas parties. The girls were thrilled to go to the airport, hide between the chairs, and wait for Papa. We went to lunch that afternoon with Papa, Mama, and Uncle Tim and had a little bit of playtime before they had to drive home. The Madison Christmas parade was supposed to be that weekend as well, but it was cancelled due to cold weather. Speaking of cold weather, Madison City Schools let out a half day early on Wednesday, December 15 due to the threat of freezing rain. This was a huge disappointment because both Kate and Anna were supposed to have Christmas parties at school that day. It was Anna's last day of school for the year, and her school day was cancelled completely. Kate's Christmas party was rescheduled for Thursday afternoon. Fortunately, Kate's teacher was nice enough to allow Anna to come to school for the party (especially since Mommy is one of the room mom's in charge of the party). Kate's party began around 11:30 and lasted for just over an hour. Mommy and Anna arrived at school around 10:45 to set up the classroom. When the kids came in, they immediately sat down on the big red carpet and Mommy read "The Night Before Christmas" to the class. After the story, the kids all made a craft. The craft involved stringing green beads on a white pipe cleaner, forming it into a circle, and tying a red bow on top to make a wreath. The kids all seemed to enjoy their craft, and there was even an extra for Anna to make one. Believe it or not, Anna was able to string all of her beads on her pipe cleaner all by herself. After craft time, it was time for snacks. You wouldn't have known that the kids just finished lunch less than an hour earlier! Everybody ate string cheese, apple slices, crackers, pretzels, and cupcakes for dessert. After snack, the kids played Christmas bingo and musical chairs. It was so much fun! Kate had her last half-day of school for the year on Friday, December 17. Then it was time for Christmas vacation to begin! On Sunday, we went to the Lockheed Martin children's Christmas party at SciQuest. We took the girls to SciQuest once many months ago, and Kate has recently been asking when we can go back. This was a perfect opportunity to go back, and everyone had fun! The girls enjoyed playing with the different science exhibits. Santa Claus was there, and Kate sat on his lap. Shortly after Thanksgiving, she sat on Santa's lap and told him that she wanted a pet shop for Christmas. This time, she didn't tell him anything "because he already knew about the pet shop." So Santa Claus promised to surprise Kate on Christmas morning. Anna was scared to sit on Santa's lap again. In fact, she has said that she doesn't want any toys for Christmas because she doesn't want Santa to bring them! After Kate talked to Santa, they got their gifts (Anna got a Dr. Seuss book and stuffed animal and Kate got a $10 Wal-Mart gift card) and enjoyed cookies and snacks before it was time to go home. On Monday, we went to Wal-Mart so Kate could use her gift card. She picked out Pretty Pretty Princess, and we have been playing it non-stop ever since. She loves to play the game with anybody (even Daddy!), but she makes the most beautiful princess! :) On Wednesday afternoon, it was time to drive up to Murfreesboro. Before we left, Kate wrote a note to Santa to put at the bottom of the fireplace so Santa would know where we were for Christmas this year. Mommy and Daddy had tickets to see the Rockettes that night so the girls stayed at Mama and Papa's house while we had a night away in Nashville. The next evening was entertaining to say the least. Kate and Anna wanted to do performances. Papa would have to "present" Kate, she would come out on stage (a step stool in the living room), and then she'd sing for us. Her favorite song to sing was "Away in a Manger." It was beautiful to hear our precious five-year-old sing this song! Anna did several performances also (including "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"), and then the adults had to perform individually as well. This made for quite a few laughs. Christmas Eve was fun! Kate and Anna helped Mama make Christmas cookies. We enjoyed a yummy hors d'oeuvres for dinner with Mama, Papa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Stacie, Gramma, and Grampa. After dinner, it was time to get dressed to go to Christmas Eve mass at Mama and Papa's church (this is the same church where Mommy and Daddy got married). The girls were relatively well-behaved for the 8 PM mass, and then we came home and got ready for bed. We put out reindeer food in the front lawn, left cookies and chocolate milk on the coffee table for Santa, and wrote a note to Santa. Even though it was so late, the girls went to bed great because they knew that Santa couldn't come until they were asleep. Anna was the first to wake up on Christmas morning, and Kate was very soon to follow. We were so thrilled to see that it began snowing overnight and it continued to snow throughout Christmas day! It was our first white Christmas in a very long time! Kate and Anna excitedly waited at the top of the stairs until we let them come downstairs and see all the presents (yes, even Anna was excited to get presents by now). We began opening gifts just after 8:00, and it took us about 2 1/2 hours to finish. Of course, we did have eight adults and two kids, and we only opened one gift at a time. After most of her gifts, Anna decided that she was finished. I think her favorite gift was a box of baby wipes from Mama and Papa, and once she opened those, she was done. Kate and Anna got a couple of awesome gifts this year from Santa. In addition to her Littlest Pet Shop that she asked for, the girls' surprise gifts from Santa were an art easel and a puppet theater with four puppets. They have had the best time playing with these things! Anna hasn't quite grasped the concept of hiding behind the curtain when doing a puppet show, though; she sticks her whole head out along with the puppet. Another favorite gift of Kate's was a children's science set, complete with beakers, test tubes, safety goggles, and several different experiment cards. Kate has done every experiment included with the set, and most of them she's done more than once. She loves it! Mommy and Daddy drove home Sunday afternoon (because Mommy had a doctor's appointment on Monday morning), but we decided to let Kate and Anna stay in Murfreesboro for a couple more days. They had lots of fun playing at Mama and Papa's house. On Monday, they were able to go to the pet store, and on Tuesday they went to Chuck E. Cheese. The girls had so much fun on their extended vacation with Mama and Papa! Thank you for playing with them for a couple days so Mommy and Daddy could get stuff at home ready for Nathan's arrival! While Kate and Anna were away, Mommy had another doctor's appointment. Everything is moving along perfectly, and we are excitedly awaiting our son's arrival in another month or so. We also spent some time going shopping, moving all of Anna's clothes and other toys upstairs to her new bedroom, and decorating Nathan's nursery with boy things. After Kate and Anna came home, we took them to the hospital on Wednesday morning to see where Nathan and Mommy would be staying after his birth. We saw where the rooms for mommies are and we got to see the baby nursery, but then we got to do what the girls had been so excited about: ride the train! The hospital has a little tram that shuttles back and forth, and the girls are always so excited to see it. They thought it was so cool to actually get to ride on it and they are already looking forward to riding on it when Nathan is born. On Thursday, we had another fun morning as we went to Jump Zone. Kate and Anna had gotten free passes when trick-or-treating, and we were finally able to use them. The girls jumped on inflatables for about an hour and a half, and they had so much fun! Anna was very timid at first, but by the end, she was doing everything that Kate did and laughing all the way! Friday was New Year's Eve, and we enjoyed a yummy fondue dinner that evening (as is our tradition). Ryan, Terrie, Lexi, and Blake came over to help us ring in the new year. We had cheese fondue, broth for the meat and veggies, and finally chocolate for dessert. So yummy! After we all stuffed ourselves silly, the adults (excluding Mommy) played Just Dance on the Wii while the kids played around the house. Our company left around 10:00, and we put the girls to bed right after that. No, they do not need to stay up to see the ball drop yet. It was a fun evening and a great ending to 2010! What a year it has been, and we are looking so forward to 2011 and all the wonderful blessings (especially our new baby boy) that the new year will bring! November 2010 At the beginning of November, Mommy and Daddy took a long-weekend vacation to Savannah, GA. We had no reason to go except that we wanted to get away before Nathan is born, and Savannah sounded like a nice place to go. Mommy and Daddy had an absolutely wonderful time in Savannah's historical district! While we were away, Mama and Uncle Tim came down to stay with Kate and Anna. Unfortunately, Mama and Uncle Tim both came down with a stomach bug on Friday night, so that ruined any weekend plans that they had. Kate and Anna were fortunate enough to be able to spend Saturday with Mr. John, Mrs. Christie, and Megan, though, and they had a lot of fun. They went to a Christmas event where Mr. John and Mrs. Christie helped them to create their own gingerbread house. Later that afternoon the girls went to a birthday party for one of Megan's friends. Thank you, John and Christie, for helping us out in this minor emergency! Mommy and Daddy came home Monday night, and Tuesday was a special day for the girls. It was Parent's Week at dance class, so Mommy and Daddy were able to watch the entire class for each of them. Anna had her class at noon, and she did as she always does…she covered her eyes with her hands so we couldn't "see" her. Fortunately, her shyness faded, and we were able to see Anna do some of her ballet moves! Later that afternoon, Kate had her dance class. Kate performed great at the barre, but she became very nervous when she stepped away from the barre to do a dance routine. We are very proud of her, though, because she is continuing to overcome her shyness and develop more self-confidence. Kate was out of school for Veteran's Day, and we enjoyed our lazy day. The girls both slept until 9:00, which was awesome! After we slowly got up and got ready, we went to Hobby Lobby, where the girls were able to pick out their own Christmas trees for their bedrooms. They each got a 3-foot tree and selected lots of ornaments, a bow for the top, and a tree skirt. The trees look adorable in their rooms, and Kate was thrilled that she got to pick everything out herself. After our trip to Hobby Lobby, we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch. Mommy, Kate, and Anna enjoyed our lunch together, and the girls even got to play on the outdoor playground for a little while since the weather was so pretty. On Friday of that same week, Kate came home from school with a special treat. She had the privilege of having her class' Teddy Bear Journal for the weekend. Her special friend, Teddy Bear, came home with her and did everything that she did all weekend long. At the end of the weekend, we wrote about all of Teddy's adventures in his journal and sent it (along with pictures) back to school. Friday afternoon, Teddy Bear had his first adventure to drive up to Tennessee. We had to pick up Uncle Tim so he could visit us while Mama and Papa went out of town. We met for dinner at Subway (there's not much selection between Huntsville and Murfreesboro), and then we all drove home after dinner. On Saturday evening, we all went to Huntsville Botanical Garden's Galaxy of Lights walking tour. The weather was perfect for walking outside. They were predicting rain for that day, but it ended up being partly cloudy with temperatures around 60 degrees. Kate, Anna, and Teddy Bear sat in the wagon, and we walked the mile-long trail to see all of the beautiful Christmas lights. Kate and Anna loved looking at the lights, especially Anna. After riding in the wagon for awhile, they decided that they wanted to get out and walk. About halfway through, we went to a large tent for complimentary hot chocolate and sugar cookies. It was a great evening and a fun way to kick off our holiday season! Daddy has also been hard at work in Anna's new bedroom. He finished the painting, and he installed a new white ceiling fan. Some of Anna's furniture has arrived, so we set that up in her room too. Her crib and one of her dressers are set up and ready to go. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of her tall chest so that her room will be complete! On Thursday, November 18, Kate and Anna both had dental checkups. Kate loves the dentist (for some strange reason), so she was excited to go. What made it even cooler for her was that Mommy had to check her out from school in the middle of the day. Mommy and Anna picked Kate up from school at 9:30 for their 9:50 appointment. We arrived a few minutes early so they were able to play on the indoor playset that they have in the office...fun fun fun! Their appointments went well - no cavities or other problems to report! Anna was unsure about having the hygeniest clean her teeth, but she eventually opened her mouth and was a big girl. Of course one of the highlights for the girls was that they each got to pick out a toy for doing such a great job. After their appointments, Mommy took the girls to Wendy's for lunch. Yes, it may seem early for lunch (we got to Wendy's around 10:30), but Kate's class eats lunch at school at 10:25. The girls were even treated to frosty's for dessert since they had been so good. We got Kate back to school in time for her to have a few minutes on the playground before coming in for the afternoon. On Friday night, we went to the Bridge Street Tree Lighting Ceremony. We heard lots of fun Christmas music and saw them light the giant tree. We even saw snow falling through the air! Later that night, Mama came down to our house because Saturday was a very special day. On Saturday morning, Mommy had her baby shower hosted by Laura Lynn, Heather, and Terrie. The shower was so nice, and it was such a special time to celebrate the upcoming birth of our son! The shower began at 10 AM, and brunch was served before we played games and opened gifts. Thank you so much to everyone who came to show your love for us and for Nathan! Kate and Anna were even able to attend, and they were so well-behaved! They enjoyed brunch with the adults, and then they sat on the steps and played with their own gifts that some people gave them. They were so quiet we really didn't even know they were there. I'm glad that they were able to be a part of this special day! That afternoon and night, Mommy's friend from college, Carol, and her little boy came to stay at our house. We had a fun evening visiting and playing. Anna wasn't sure about Elijah, and she made certain to tell somebody whenever he did something "wrong." On Sunday evening, we attended the Advent workshop at Asbury. We first enjoyed a yummy barbecue dinner, and then it was time for the fun stuff! Like decorating our candy house! It's a little bit difficult to decorate a candy house, however, when you have two girls that would rather EAT the frosting and candy than put it on the house. :) Daddy finally got enough frosting spread on the house to start decorating it. Besides the frosting (which both girls ate more than their fare share of), Kate's favorite thing to snack on were the skittles and Anna's were the marshmallows. Good thing they give us lots of candy! We did end up with a rather cute house and a couple of rather full bellies! The girls were also able to decorate crowns with jewels, cut out paper ornaments, and work on a blessing jar. Each day during Advent, we will select a particular blessing from our jar as a way to do good to other people. The next week was short and crazy because of the Thanskgiving holiday. On Monday, Mommy and Anna went to Columbia to eat lunch with Kate. Anna was very excited about eating lunch with Kate, but she immediately became shy when we sat down at the table and refused to eat anything. It was still a fun time, and Kate seemed very excited that we were there! The girls were off of school on Wednesday, and Daddy was able to get out of work a little bit early too. That afternoon, we drove up to Murfreesboro to spend Thanksgiving with Gramma and Grampa. We were also able to see Great Gramma, Great Grampa, Uncle Randal, Rhonda, Aunt Julie, and Uncle Dave. We all enjoyed a yummy Thanksgiving meal, complete with turkey, brisket, gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, corn, peas, green beans, okra, fruit, cranberry sauce, and rolls. Thank you, Gramma and Grampa, for allowing us to spend the holiday with you! We came back home on Thursday night and were excited about the long weekend ahead. That's because it was time to decorate our house for Christmas! We spent Friday putting up our Christmas tree and indoor decorations. Kate was very excited to help put the tree up this year and fluff all the branches. Anna had fun helping for a few minutes, but I don't think she appreciated being pricked by the branches. She really preferred to stay back and play with her baby dolls while we put the tree up. After Daddy put the lights on the tree, it was time to put the ornaments on. Now Anna was ready to help. Kate did a good job of scattering the ornaments around the bottom of the tree. Anna, however, had at least ten ornaments on one branch! Mommy had to do a little bit of rearranging, but it was fun to have the whole family participate in putting up the Christmas tree. We also continued our holiday tradition of having each of the girls put the angel on the tree. Daddy lifted them up really high and they each took a turn at putting the angel on the tree. On Saturday, Daddy spent the morning decorating the outside of our house with lights. That evening, Lexi came over with her family for dinner. We enjoyed a low country dinner (recipes that Mommy and Daddy learned while at cooking school in Savannah) and lots of good company. We spent a lazy and relaxing day at home on Sunday as we prepared for only three more weeks of school before Christmas break. So hard to believe that the holidays are upon us! We wish you all a Merry Christmas and blessed holiday season! October 2010 October was a very fun month! On Saturday, October 2, we attended the annual Madison Street Festival in downtown Madison. We arrived early and had time to walk around a little bit before the parade started at 8:45. We were excited to see our friend, Jack, walking in the parade with his Cub Scout pack. The other highlight of the parade was certainly the candy! After watching the parade, we walked over to the children's tent, where the girls got their faces and fingernails painted, made some crafts, and got to pet animals in the petting zoo. Kate loved petting the pig, and Anna's favorite was to run along chasing the ducks. We were also able to go and let the girls play on a few inflatables. We finished the fun morning with yummy fair food for lunch and Italian ice for dessert. The next week was an exciting one for Kate. On Tuesday, she had her first kindergarten field trip. Her class went to Tate Farms, and she was so excited about her field trip. They took a school bus on the 45-minute drive. It was cool that day (and very windy), but they all still had fun. Some of the highlights were the huge corrugated pipe slide, the llama named Dolly, and playing in the corn crib with her class. Everyone even got to pick out their own pumpkin to bring home. Kate picked out the most perfect pumpkin and was excited to bring it home that afternoon. Very cool! Kate and Anna had fall break from October 7 through October 11. We decided that we'd do something fun for fall break this year, so we planned a trip to the beach! We left early Thursday morning and drove about six hours to the Waterscape Condominiums on Fort Walton Beach. The questions ("When are we there?") started before we even got on the interstate! Fortunately, though, aside from asking a million questions, the girls were very good on the drive. We only had to stop once for lunch, and we arrived at the Waterscape around 2 PM. After a quick tour of our condo and some unpacking, we all put our swimsuits on and went down to the pools. Waterscape had several pools, including one heated pool, a children's activity pool, two hot tubs, another swimming pool with waterfall, and a lazy river. Kate was very excited to try out the lazy river, so that's what we did first. Much to our surprise, the water in the lazy river was extremely cold - Kate compared it to the North Pole! We ended up going to the hot tub for a few minutes before we headed to the beach. Anna had fun playing in the sand, while Kate wanted to go straight for the ocean. We finally got Anna in the ocean for a minute, but then a wave splashed in her face, so she was done for the day. We came back up to the room and got dressed for dinner. We went to a yummy seafood place called Dewey Destin's, which was located right on the pier. It was a perfect place to eat dinner, watch the sunset, and begin our vacation. The girls woke up early on Friday and were ready to go to the beach. We spent several hours at the beach that morning. We built sand castles, played in the water (which was very calm and clear), wrote letters and words in the sand, ate snacks, and just had LOTS of fun! Anna ended up getting back in the water on Friday, and she had a great time splashing with Daddy! We headed back up to the room to eat lunch on Friday. After lunch, Anna and Kate both took a nap. When Kate woke up from her nap, she and Daddy went back to the swimming pools while Anna continued to nap. They found the heated pool and had fun playing in that. Of course, before coming back up to the room, Kate wanted to go play in the lazy river again...brrr! That night, we went to dinner at The Crab Trap. Daddy had yummy crabs, Mommy had shrimp, Kate had popcorn shrimp, and Anna had chicken fingers. The girls' dinners were even brought in a bucket with a shovel that we were able to bring home. After dinner, we went back to the condo to do a much-anticipated activity...crab catching on the beach! We got flashlights, a net, and a bucket and headed out to the beach. Just over the bridge, we ran into a young boy and his Dad, and they had a bucket full of crabs! This made Kate excited, but Anna decided she wanted to be carried the whole time. Mommy carried Anna down the beach, while Daddy and Kate caught crabs. There was no way Anna was going to allow anybody to put her down! Kate did a great job of finding the crabs, and Daddy caught lots with his bare hands. After several, Kate became brave enough and wanted to try to catch them herself. She was initially very timid about it and moved her hand away at the last minute. But she did eventually get up the courage and she held several in her hands. The funniest part were the squeals coming from Kate as a couple of the crabs escaped Daddy's grasp and headed right for Kate's toes! On Saturday morning, the girls woke up early and we headed back to the beach. The day was spent much the same as the day before. One difference in Saturday, though, is that Daddy and Kate went out in an ocean kayak. Daddy did all of the paddling, and Kate did the sightseeing. She had a lot of fun in the kayak even though she didn't see anything too exciting. They came back to shore and we offered Anna the chance to go in the kayak. She wanted to go, but she refused to put on the life jacket, so she stayed on the beach with Mommy and Kate. Daddy went back out in the kayak by himself and followed a couple dolphins. After several hours out on the beach, we took a short dip in the lazy river and hot tub. The lazy river seemed to warm up throughout the weekend as the air temperatures warmed back up into the upper-80's. We went back up to the condo for lunch. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed burgers from Fudpucker's for lunch. After lunch, everybody took a nap before playing again. Kate and Daddy then went back to the pools for a little while that afternoon before dinner. Since Mommy and Daddy ate a big lunch, we didn't want a huge dinner, so we decided to do something different. We went to Waffle House for dinner. After dinner, we drove to the nearby carnival where Daddy took Kate and Anna on the ferris wheel. The girls also rode on a little helicopter that went around and around. It was a fun time! We also went to Shake's for some yummy frozen custard before heading back to the condo for bedtime. On Sunday, had more fun playtime at the beach. Kate asked to go on the kayak again, but we ended up just having fun playing on the beach. We ate lunch up by the pools on Sunday, and then we all enjoyed some playtime in the pools before nap. Kate loved going down the pirate-ship slide; Anna loved playing on the little playground animals right next to the pool. We then all headed over to the heated pool to play. Daddy took Anna up for a nap, and Mommy and Kate stayed at the heated pool for a little while longer. We all enjoyed our time at the beach and the pools! Since we played outside for so long on Sunday, Anna was the only one who had a nap that day (and it was a short one too). We then got dressed for dinner and went to The Back Porch. This time the girls got their dinner served on Frisbees instead of plates. After dinner, we went back to Shake's for smoothies, and then we headed back to the condo. Kate asked if she could go catch crabs, so she and Daddy went back to the beach while Mommy put Anna to bed. Kate and Daddy saw a huge crab, and after that, Kate was done! :) We checked out of our condo on Monday morning, picked up donuts to go from The Donut Hole, and then went back to Dewey Destin's for lunch. It was a great family vacation on the beach, and we're ready to go back already! The following weekend was another fun one. On Saturday, we went to Tate Farms as a family. Since Kate had gone with her class a couple weeks earlier, she was excited to show us everything. We arrived just as they opened and went to play in the corn crib by ourselves for quite awhile. Kate loved jumping in the corn. Of course, Anna had to try to copy what her big sister was doing, but she was too scared to really jump in. Luckily Daddy helped her and they both jumped in together. We took lots of cute pictures by the pumpkins and other harvest decorations they had up. The girls loved the hay maze this year and both went in by themselves without Mommy or Daddy (they had a stand where we could see them the whole time). As soon as they ran through once, they came out and went back in again. Both girls got to hold bunny rabbits at the petting zoo, and we even saw Dolly the Llama. Finally it was time for our hayride to pick out our pumpkin. We picked out a perfectly round, nearly 20-pound pumpkin to bring home with us this year. Since Kate picked out her own smaller pumpkin on her field trip, we let Anna pick out her smaller pumpkin too. We had lots of fun on this perfect fall day! Since the weather was so perfect that weekend, we decided to skip nap after church on Sunday and go to the Botanical Garden instead. We picked up chicken fingers for an easy picnic lunch and headed over to the gardens. After lunch, our first stop was the butterfly house, where there were still quite a few butterflies. Kate was able to hold one as it landed on her. Anna tried to catch a butterfly, but she was finally able to hold one with Daddy's help. After the butterfly house, we walked around and played in several of the different treehouses. We also went through the sorghum maze before it was time to go home. During the next week, Kate had another kindergarten first. She brought home her report card for her first nine weeks of school. We were so proud of Kate and the excellent report card that she had! On October 22, Anna had her fall festival at preschool. She was excited to wear her Halloween shirt to school and get to jump on inflatables with her classmates. She also brought home a treat bag with a necklace, a rice krispy treat, and lots of candy. The last week in October, Kate had a special honor at school. She was Star Student for the week. On Monday, she had to bring in a poster with pictures that showed some of her favorite things to do. She got up in front of her whole class to talk about the pictures on the poster. During the week, she also had to bring in her favorite toy (stuffed otter from Georgia Aquarium), her favorite book (Fancy Nancy, Poison Ivy Expert), and her favorite stuffed animal (sea turtle from Hawaii). Tuesday was a rather crazy day as schools closed early due to severe weather moving into our area. Mommy picked Kate up from school at 1:15, and we were under a tornado warning by 1:45. The weather was very dangerous for a couple hours with tornado paths projected very close to our house. By 5:00, though, the severe weather was gone and we were able to go out to dinner to celebrate Mommy's birthday. On Friday, Mommy got to come to school to eat lunch with Kate in honor of her being Star Student. Daddy was planning on coming too, but he was home with a stomach bug. Little did we know, but Mommy and Kate were soon to follow. Mommy picked Kate up from school at 2:40, and we both got sick about five minutes after walking in the door from school. The three of us were pretty miserable the rest of the day Friday and part of Saturday as we tried to get our strength back. We carved our pumpkin after church on Sunday. Kate has a jack-o-lantern shirt this year, and she decided that she wanted to make the pumpkin look like the one on her shirt. Daddy did a great job making that happen! Fortunately, we were all healthy and well to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. Kate dressed up as Cinderella this year, and Anna dressed up as Belle. Our two princesses looked absolutely beautiful with their dresses, light-up shoes, crowns, and even glitter in their hair! We left the house around 6:30 to begin our trick-or-treating, and we stayed out for about an hour. The girls did a great job at going up to each house, ringing the doorbell, saying "trick-or-treat," and remembering their manners to say "thank you." They got LOTS of candy, and they were very excited! It was a very fun evening, complete with one piece of candy each before going to bed. In other news, we continue to prepare for the arrival of our son. Anna likes to say that "Nathan is in Mommy's BIG belly." I love the emphasis on BIG! :) Daddy spent one weekend painting Anna's new room in preparation for moving her out of the nursery. Anna "helped" Daddy paint a little bit before we closed and locked the door on her. She is really excited that her new room is painted yellow and that she gets to sleep in there soon. Anna is going to be a great big sister to Baby Nathan. Her favorite thing continues to be playing with her baby dolls. Oftentimes she will sit down on the floor with a baby on each side of her. And she will proceed to read stories to them, sing to them, etc. If I try to come near her, her response is "Go away, Mommy." She loves being a mommy to those baby dolls! September 2010 Kate and Anna both began dance class on Tuesday, August 31. Anna loved to watch Kate so much last year that we enrolled her in the two-year-old class this year. She goes to dance at noon on Tuesdays. Anna was very excited to go to her first dance class. She wore her leotard, tights, and ballet shoes, and she seemed to have a good time in dance class. Of course, just like her sister, when Mommy walked in to watch the last couple minutes of class, Anna covered her eyes and refused to do anything else if I was watching. Kate goes to dance after school on Tuesdays, at 3:30. The girls were both excited to find out that they have the same teachers (Mrs. Beth, Mrs. Julie, and Miss Whitney). Kate is really enjoying dance class this year! On September 1, Kate was excited because Mommy did Duty Free Lunch for her teacher at school. DFL is where a parent volunteer takes the class to lunch and to the playground to give the teacher a break once a week. Kate was thrilled that Mommy was there, and it was a nice chance for Mommy to get to know Kate's classmates. The next day was another fun day for Kate. It was the day of her Boosterthon Fun Run. This is the only major fundraiser that Kate's school does, and Kate did her part to contribute. Kate called family and asked them to sponsor her in the Fun Run. Kate did such a great job that she raised the most money in her class...about $220! On the morning of the Fun Run, Mommy and Anna dropped Kate off at school and then walked over to the track where they were going to run. The kindergartners came out to run at 8:15. They all lined up, and then they were off! Kate ran 33 laps!!! We were all proud of her, and she was quite proud of herself too! In fact, she ran so hard that day that the next morning, she could barely walk (in typical drama-queen fashion) because her legs hurt so bad. Labor Day Weekend was a special one. Anna spent a weekend all by herself at Gramma and Grampa's house. While there, she did lots of crafts, played outside, visited the Children's Discovery Center. Anna had a lot of fun with Gramma and Grampa! While Anna was away for the weekend, Mommy and Daddy planned a special weekend with Kate doing some of her favorite things. The weather was absolutely perfect for outdoor activities! On Saturday, we went to Monte Sano State Park (the "high mountain," as Kate calls it) to enjoy a picnic lunch and lots of playground time. After resting at home for a couple hours, we went to Bridge Street for the evening. We enjoyed pizza from Tommy's Pizza, rode the carousel, had a 30-minute pedal boat ride, and even got frozen yogurt for dessert! Kate loved riding the boats; she insisted on helping to pedal and steer. There were a couple times when I thought we might crash since Kate was in control, but we never did and we had lots of fun instead!! After church on Sunday, we went out to breakfast. For dinner, we enjoyed cooking fondue (one of Kate's favorites) in the living room. We had shrimp, scallops, steak, broccoli, mushrooms, and potatoes for dinner. Then we had chocolate fondue for dessert, complete with strawberries and cheesecake bites for dipping. While we enjoyed our dessert, we did movie night together and watched G-Force. It was a late night, but it was lots of fun! On Monday, we woke up and had to go to Murfreesboro to pick Anna up. Kate said she was excited to see Anna but she didn't want to get her. I think Kate really enjoyed being an only child for a couple days! When we met Anna at the restaurant for lunch, she was so excited to see us, especially Kate! She gave Mommy and Daddy a hug, but then she went and attached herself to Kate. I think she missed her sister a little bit! :) The following weekend, on September 10, Kate was invited to Megan's seventh birthday party. Her party was a pretend pajama party. The girls came over around 5:00 in their PJs and slippers. They had to bring their sleeping bags and favorite stuffed animals. While at the party, they ate pizza for dinner, watched a movie, had their fingernails painted, etc. At 8:00 that evening, all of the girls were picked up to go home and sleep in their own beds. It was such a cute idea, and Kate had so much fun! During the next week, Kate had her school pictures taken. Unfortunately for Kate, a couple days earlier, she had decided to rub her head along the carpet, which caused a nice-looking rug burn right in the middle of her forehead. And even more unfortunately, it began to scab over and look quite obvious just in time for her pictures. Oh, and did I mention that this is the picture that will be used in her yearbook?!? Mommy had her 20-week ultrasound on Thursday, September 16. Unfortunately, it was while Kate was in school, so only Anna was able to go with us. Anna was a very good girl at the appointment, but she wasn't too interested in seeing the baby on the screen. She did, however call Mama afterwards to tell her that she's going to have a baby brother! Nathan Tyler Owen looked absolutely perfect on ultrasound, so we were very excited to see that! At the ultrasound, he weighed approximately 12 ounces and was measuring 20 weeks, 1 day. When Kate got home from school, Mommy was able to tell Kate the good news that she's going to have a baby brother! Kate was very excited to find out because she was hoping for a baby brother. The girls were invited to a couple of birthday parties on Sunday, September 26. The first was for Jack, who turned seven years old last week! The party was at Pump It Up, which is an indoor play area with lots of inflatables. Kate and Anna had lots of fun jumping on the inflatables, although Anna was very timid at first and it took her a little while to warm up. When she was finally comfortable, she played hard until she pooped out, went to her backpack, and found her snack and juice. Anna enjoyed staying for Jack's whole birthday party to watch him open presents and eat cookie cake. Kate had to leave Jack's party to go to a birthday party for Olivia, a little girl in her kindergarten class. Olivia's party was at My Spirited Art, and each of the attendees painted their very own painting. They each painted a canvas with a purple background and a giant green whale on it. Kate kept saying how much fun she was having, and her painting turned out great! In other news, Anna is doing well with potty training. Her teachers suggested that most kids were ready to wear pull-ups to school, so I sent Anna in a pull-up. The next class day, as I was getting ready to put Anna's pull-up on, she insisted on wearing big-girl panties. So she went potty at home, and I sent her to school in panties (with LOTS of extra outfits). Much to my surprise, she was still wearing the same clothes when I picked her up four hours later! During the busy school day, she stayed completely dry! I was so proud of her! She has since had two more dry days at school. Anna is beginning to make progress in potty training again, and we're so excited to see her develop in this way! Kate continues to do well in school. Every day she comes home with green behavior check marks, which means she had good behavior with no reminders from her teacher. Great job, Kate! It was a relatively quiet month around here, but we're beginning to settle into our new routine. Click here to read Kate's previous updates. Click here to read Anna's previous updates.